


Obelisk: Kingdom of Beasts II

by Vesperchan



Series: Obelisk [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, BAMF Sakura, Curses, F/M, Fantasy, Fighting, I don't know how to tag this, Multi, Obelisk, Other, Start out in fantasy imperial Russia, but it does, has a dog, it's a cross posted fic, it's a lot of fantasy world whiplash, the character death tag shouldn't apply to characters that were dead to begin with, then feudal Japan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 151,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25038091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vesperchan/pseuds/Vesperchan
Summary: One Kingdom down, three to go. Carrying the scars on her heart, Sakura must brave the dreams again as this time, there are more sinister things then men waiting for her when she goes to sleep. The wolves have come to feast and her body will know their teeth.-Reposted from FF.net by the original author.Beta edited by Nightmarenip
Relationships: Sakura multi, Sakura/sasori
Series: Obelisk [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800589
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	1. Monarch Woods Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> A huge shout out to Nightmarenip who was my Beta for all the Obelisk series on AO3 including this piece, Kingdom of Beasts. Please make sure to pass on your thanks, otherwise I never would have cross posted this on my own.
> 
> Thank you Nightmarenip!

_ We hid the world inside an egg. _

* * *

_ We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories."  _

_  
― Jonathan Gottschall,  
The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human _

* * *

**OBELISK**

###  The Monarch Woods  
(part 1)

* * *

The Orchard was a rustic styled barn building converted into a indie fair trade bar on the outskirts of the city, right where everything became unreasonably expensive and only the rich kids hung. Their signature drink was a hard apple cider that was locally brewed and loudly touted as the best hard cider on the market. Angry Orchard, the drink, was sold on the side just as a way of spitefully comparing the two ales and see that the local stuff was truly all it claimed to be. Sakura didn't drink, but judging by Karin's vocal interest, she was willing to believe the claims.

"Well, what do you think?" Ami asked, coming up behind the two girls and hanging one arm over each of their respected shoulders, "Isn't this neat?"

Ami had a few drinks, but it was enough to loosen her up and make her giddy for the company she wasn't familiar with. Sakura had hoped that the lack of a dance floor would act as a deterrent for Ami getting so intentionally loud and friendly. It was concerning to the pink haired girl, only because Ami was so averse to speaking with strangers if she was sober.

Sakura tugged on Ami's hand, "Sit with us, you're always running off." Ami pouted but dropped into a seat by the bar and tilted over so that her head landed on Sakura's shoulder intentionally. 

"You're no fun. You don't have funny stories anymore. I've heard all of them before."

"I'm sorry I'm so boring," Sakura laughed, nursing her water, "Maybe you should tell me a story for a change." Ami blew the stray bangs out of her line of vision and tried smoothing out the miniature wrinkles in her dress. 

"I'm going to go dancing. Join me if you're up to it, Kar?"

"One dance won't hurt," the redhead consented, setting her finished drink down on the counter before following Ami out onto the small dance floor. It was a pitifully small dance floor that circled around a modest stage, where locals and drifting talent often entertained. Only a handful of couples could let loose at a time unless they spilled out over the hardwood, as they often did, into the surrounding areas.

There was a loft above the dance floor for the kids who just wanted to chill, and below there were couches and tables where the pool table used to be. Sakura always thought the Orchard reminded her of the Bronze from her favorite 90's TV show, Buffy the Vampire Hunter. The Orchard was a little mix of everything with specialty drinks, a dance floor, live music, a corner for games, and a lounge for lounging. Whatever mood you were in, the Orchard had a place for you.

Alone at the bar, Sakura caught a sliver of her reflection in the glass behind the drinks on the far wall. She was wearing her hair down in soft beachy waves that Karin claimed made her features soft. When Sakura looked down, her pale, pink locks slipped forward to cover the sides of her face like pastel tapestry. Her hair would need to be dyed again if she didn't want to go back to being a platinum blond, but for now she liked the rosie hue of her hair when the club lights shone through.

When she brushed her nails through her hair and looked up, the bartender gave her a flirty smile that would have been tempting, had the kid looked a little older than the seniors from high school. He was handling alcohol, so she didn't doubt he was of the legal age, but he had the sort of face that would be better suited once he finished growing into it.

'Ugh, since when were you such a critic,' she mentally chastised herself. Until recently, she would have never bothered to think about a guy who flirted for longer than two seconds, much less critique his physical properties.

She needed a drink, too bad she was the designated driver for the evening. It was almost an unspoken rule that if Sakura was going out to a club or a bar with Karin, that she would be the designated driver in order for Karin to booze it up without having to worry about driving while impaired. Karin was a horrible driver anyway, but Sakura had no doubt that a buzzed Karin was even worse.

It didn't help that her favorite drink was a seasonal peach blend that was going to go off the menu once the Autumn flavors came in. Sakura still had a month or so before they ran out of peach, but still….

"Can I get you anything?" the boy bartender asked. Sakura shook her head, smiling to be polite. 

"Nah, I'm driving tonight. I should be good and stay away."

"We have some non alcoholic drinks I could offer you. It's club policy to provide designated drivers with soft drinks free of charge." The kid pointed to a picture on the wall of the bar owner and a few young girls who were all wearing the uniform. "One of our own was hit and killed by a drunk driver two years ago. Never mind that said driver was boozing up at home, the boss still felt so guilty about it. We're pretty good about calling cabs and getting rides for anyone who needs it and treating DDs well so they're encouraged not to drink."

"I'm sorry about the girl," Sakura replied, frowning at the picture, "But that's a pretty cool response. I'm glad your boss is so considerate, especially as a bar owner." The bartender looked back from the photograph to Sakura and grinned. 

"So, you have a type of drink?"

"If you have any sort of tea I'd be eternally grateful, but soda's good too."

"That's actually on our menu, not here, but at the meal bar." He pointed to the wall behind Sakura and to her right, where a second bar stood made out of apple crates. Behind the bar was a menu list of finger foods one could order and non alcoholic drinks. "But don't get up, I can make them all from here."

Sakura thanked him and ordered a green tea with pomegranate and honey. True to his word, everything needed for the drink was easily accessible from behind the counter, and within five minutes Sakura had her tea. The stage was empty, but Sakura could hear the music playing from the sound set close by when she took the first sip.

"Any good?" She looked up through her lashes and saw the bartender was still hovering close by. He seemed to be waiting for something from her. When she blinked in surprise, he laughed shyly and set his hands to cleaning shot classes that had already been cleaned. "Sorry if I'm bothering. I've only seen you in here once or twice before. This ain't your scene?"

Sakura didn't mind the conversation, not really. Only thing she was concerned with was possibly leading the young boy on and making him assume more was happening than it actually was. She liked talking with people, but she liked walking away from people too. Easing into it, Sakura shrugged her shoulders and cupped both her hands around her mug. 

"Not really, but to be honest, I don't have a scene or anything like that. If I'm out it's because I've been dragged out."

"You didn't seem to be the clubbing type."

"Which is why I'm not at the Misery Den right now. To be honest, that's probably the type of place Ami would have loved, but this is as much as I can handle right now."

"You made a good choice. The Orchard is an ideal hang out, it's been my favorite place to work for three years now."

Sakura hid her surprise. She had thought him younger than what he actually seemed if he had been working at a bar/club for over three years. Another employee who had been on the floor cleaning up empty tables waltzed in behind the boy and dropped an arm across the kid's shoulders before Sakura could comment.

"What are you doing, Yammy Yam oh Yam, my man?" the new arrival asked, smiling around a toothpick that dangled from his lips. "Are we really that slow tonight?"

"Genma," the boy groaned, squeezing his eyes shut in an effort to fight back the rising color in his cheeks, "You're on the clock, go back to work."

"Did it, now I'm done and you looked like more fun," Genma chuckled, turning his lazy eyes over to where Sakura sat. His easy smile stretched a bit when his eyes met hers. "And you're doing a horrible job of entertaining the customers. Look how bored you've got the nice lady." Genma let his arm slip free before taking a step towards the bar and leaning over, onto his elbows. "My name's Genma, and you are?" Sakura narrowed her eyes, lifting her mug to her lips before replying. 

"Sakura."

"Sakura, do you have plans for the rest of the night, or are you here to make some?"

"Oh my God, you're not allowed to hit on the customers, get out of here!" the bartender cried out in exasperation, picking up Genma by the collar of his shirt and dragging him back to the door to the bar before tossing him out. When he got back he shot Sakura a regretful expression. "I am so sorry about him. He's like that a lot, we can't get him to stop and he's been here too long to fire him."

"It's fine." Sakura waved a hand in front of her face. "It's nothing I haven't heard before and besides, I know how to act nasty when it's needed. Thanks anyway." He smiled at the praise just as a couple approached the bar to sit. 

"Sure, anytime. I'm Yamato by the way. Let me know if you need anything."

Sakura merely raised her mug in farewell before finishing off its contents. Not wanting to look like she was lonely or in want of more conversation, Sakura pushed her drink forward and away from her setting before hopping off the barstool and retreating to the heart of the club to find Karin and Ami.

It didn't take long, as both were sprawled out on a couch next to each other. Karin grinned widely when she saw Sakura and Ami laughed for no other reason, causing Sakura to sigh.

"Okay, you two look done for the night, should I take you both home now?" Sakura asked.

"Saw you talking to a boy," Ami hummed before laughing at her own words. Her speech was slightly slurred, but not to the point where it was hard to understand what she was saying.

Karin looked over at Ami and winced. While Ami might not have had a lot to sip, she was a lightweight in comparison to Karin, who could outdrink boys twice her size.

"Yeah," Karin hummed, reaching out to shake Ami a little, "I think you're done, sweetie. Let's get you in the car. You can crash at my place."

"That makes it easier on me," Sakura chirped, reaching for her keys in the front pocket of her mini yellow purse. Finding her keys she gave them a shake, letting all the nick nacks and metal pieces make a familiar noise. "To the station wagon my friends."

Between Karin and Sakura, Ami didn't have much trouble walking out to the car, but buckling her in and getting her to stay upright in her seat was a bit more challenging. Eventually, Ami passed out and went boneless in the back seat, making it no less difficult to strap her in. When they were done, Karin closed the door as softly as she dared while still slamming it, because Sakura's station wagon wouldn't do anything unless you were rough with it. The doors had a habit of creaking open if you were too gentle with them.

"Not too bad," Sakura said with a shrug, "I wouldn't mind coming back here again, but not so much booze next time."

"It was nice," Karin agreed, circling around to open the passenger side door and slide in. "I'm glad you decided to come out with us. You just started school, and already you're having to cancel on us to finish homework assignments. I thought you were supposed to be ahead of this."

"I am, I just want to stay ahead. Besides, you and Ami go out enough to know how to have a good time without me," Sakura smiled sarcastically in the dark as she pulled out. 

Overhead, street lamps cast pools of light that flickered past, one right after the other as Sakura sped down the not so active road. Sakura liked the way her city looked at night. It wasn't The City, but it was her city.

"Don't be jealous. You know we miss you and it's nowhere near as fun without you. Just make an effort to come more often."

"While selectively, I'm still an introvert," Sakura grumbled. The radio went to commercial and instead of flipping it to a different station, she turned it down. If Karin had something to say, Sakura wanted to make it look as much like she was willing to listen as possible.

"Fine, then just me. I like Ami enough, but you're my bestie," Karin slipped down in her seat, digging her chin into her chest and pouting, "I'm lonely."

"You're using me as a crutch. What do you think it's going to be like if either of us get a boyfriend if you're getting jealous over me now?" Sakura let the silence sit before saying more, "It's been nearly four years since then, Karin."

No one said anything, but the message implied was clear. It had been nearly four years since Karin's spirit was shattered and destroyed by a boy who worked in her father's pizza parlor. It had been nearly four years since Sakura went from Karin's number one enemy to Karin's reason for living. It had been four years since Karin's heart started healing, but somewhere along the line, the healing process went awry. Sakura knew her role in the relationship was to be a support to Karin, to help her to grow and build up a confidence that was close to what it once was before the boy fiasco, but Sakura wasn't a support anymore, she was a crutch. While she would never want Karin to stop or lessen their friendship, Sakura knew Karin needed to branch out from her safety zone.

"I'm really proud of you and how good a friend you've been to Ami. I know she needs it too, Kar." The redhead looked back into the backseat where Ami snored, out cold. 

"She's alright. Still a bitch, but I like that about her. Nothing wrong with being a little bit of a bitch."

"Or a lot, in your case," Sakura joked. Karin narrowed her eyes, 

"Hey, watch it." Sakura switched lanes easily, chuckling to herself. 

"Don't worry, I like that about you." Karin rolled her eyes and flipped a strand of mermaid red hair over her shoulder with over emphasized gestures. 

"Naturally." Sakura laughed, and Karin watched her through it, turning her eyes back to Ami before speaking, "Anyway, she's alright. I feel like the powerpuff girls when it's three of us. It's a good number."

"A trio," Sakura agreed. Karin waited until they were on a road she recognized as close to home before saying something more. 

"I'm not trying to be clingy, but you're different."

"How so?" Sakura frowned.

"I don't know. You sometimes look off like you're thinking of something and it's like you're lost to the world. You've always been a dreamer, yeah, but sometimes recently I feel like you're living in another world part of the time. Did you start writing again?" Sakura felt defensive all of a sudden. 

"I would have told you."

"Yeah, yeah, I figured that. Look, I'm not your mother, I'm not going to say it's bad for you, but if you feel you need it, go for it. Just let me know so I can keep an eye on you. Deal?"

They were close to where Karin lived, so Sakura slowed down, drifting under the sleep limit. There were weights over her heart resting in her chest she wanted to shove off. 

"I didn't start writing again, but there has been something bothering me."

Karin sat up, attentive as ever.

"It's just these dreams I've been having. They're not recurring, but they are in succession, one starts where the prior finished, and they were so lifelike I thought they were real, but I haven't dreamt like that in a month. They ended badly, and I think I died in the last one." Karin hesitated before saying anything. 

"Do you think you need to go back on the medicine?" Sakura shook her head. 

"No, it's not impairing my ability to work or carry on with classes, so there is no need, and besides, it's been a month since I've dreamt like that. I think it's over."

They were in front of the pizza parlor, but Sakura hadn't killed the engine. Parked outside, the two sat for a while without speaking. Karin swallowed, opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it. Sakura chuckled at the sight.

"Sorry, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it."

"No!" Karin nearly jumped, "You idiot, are you joking? I want to help, I do, but I don't know what I can do for you or if there is anything that even needs doing. I…I'm not good with stuff like this. I need something I can kick in the balls- those are the sort of problems I'm good at solving."

"I know. Hey, it's fine for now. Let's get you and Ami inside," Sakura opened her door and had a foot out when a hand on her elbow stopped her. She looked back to see Karin frowning, "What?"

"If you think it would help, write it all down and I'll read it with you. Maybe talking about it would help. I can't do much, but I can do that much."

"Read what?" Ami asked with a yawn, waking up part way. Her eyes fluttered open and then she was back to snoring right away, this time only louder.

Karin and Sakura exchanged a look before laughing into their hands.

"Fine," Sakura confessed, "We'll do it that way. Thanks, Kar."

Karin grinned wide. 

"No problem."

When Sakura got home, the first thing she saw when she turned on the living room lights was her unfinished Halloween costume draped out over the couch.

Ami was orchestrating the night for the three of them, getting them into parties with high standards and higher budgets on the hosting side. Ami and Sakura had been unwilling to sacrifice one of their favorite nights of the year for anything other than their traditional trick or treat extravaganza and Twilight Zone marathon, but, apparently, the really fancy high class parties had gift bags that included well stocked gift cards and two hundred dollar sunglasses. Ami showed off a pair of sapphire stud earrings she received last year before throwing them back into her jewelry box on account of how 'small' and inexpensive they were.

While not poor, Sakura and Karin didn't have the spare dough to go around buying expensive, well made accessories like Ami and be picky about their size or color. With that in mind, both girls were huge suckers for freebees, no matter what they were. Sakura had actually managed to go the entire time since moving in without buying any paper napkins since she picked so many up from fast food outlets and saved them. (It was a matter of pride for her by this point.)

Aside from that, the party Ami wanted to take them to was genuinely interesting looking in and of itself. The Gramophone ball was unique in that it was a dated social event that required it's attendants to arrive in period costume and dine like the aristocrats the social elites all wish they were in spite of their worker blood. The three main families who collaborated to orchestrate the ball were all self made millionaires who held fantasies of coming from long lines of czars and French nobility and divinely inheriting their fortunes instead of working for it.

Sakura fingered the material that had been cut apart and pinned together with safety pins in anticipation of a day where actual sewing took place. She wasn't a fine seamstress, but she watched enough youtube and tailored enough cosplay outfits to know her way around a needle and thread, unlike Karin who was having help on altering an old piece of Ami's.

Sakura's dress was a deep velvet green with gold and white detail. Inspired by an Imperial Russia era Lady-in-waiting gown she found on Pinterest, Sakura had stayed fairly accurate to the most simple design she could find. There were a few truly lavish gowns that made her green with envy, but Sakura knew it was only a dream for her. It would take too much time for such a simple dress, anything more elaborate was out of the question.

"I'll work on it some more in the morning," Sakura said aloud, knowing she had less than two months left before she needed it. That would be enough time, especially when she already had the material cut and pinned.

She was tired when she finally made it to the bathroom in her pjs. She made an honest effort to take care of her teeth, but cut her brushing time down in half before rinsing and heading for bed. She set her alarm even though she didn't have classes or work that next day because she knew she had to keep her body on a schedule if she didn't want to end up yawning all through the first half of her morning lectures the day after.

Turning onto her side, Sakura looked over at her nightstand and saw the black Obelisk that stood against her stack of books. One entire side was bleached in mother of pearl siding, while the rest remained black with onyx. It had been that way ever since her adventure with Nagato in the hospital room.

She remembered waking from the dream convinced something was still buried in her stomach, only to find nothing less than perfectly smooth skin at the site. All the other bruises and cuts from that dream were nowhere to be found when she went looking for them as well. Even the old bruises and half healed cuts were faded and nonexistent. It was weird, but not in the unwelcome sort of way. She liked not having ugly jarring scars all over her body.

Sakura rolled over onto her opposite side, looking away from the Obelisk on her nightstand and closing her eyes. It had been a month. It wasn't worth worrying about anymore.

There was nothing to worry about.

There was nothing but empty dreams anymore. No, not anymore.

Nothing anymore.

No….

Her slumber was heavy and deep; it was deeper than it should have been. The sinking deepness struck a memory too late, a second after she tipped over the edge and was caught by gravity into the dream that wasn't a dream.

Sulfur filled her lungs, and suddenly she couldn't breath. She was swimming in smoke and struggling to find a surface where she could free her lungs from their crushing weight. Somewhere, she broke even and clean air filled her breasts, but not before doubling her over with great whooping coughs that echoed through her hollow body like the sound of ripped bedsheets.

"Sai," she managed to say in between gasps.

The world around her was dark, a black sand beach on the coast of a sea of smoke. Tendrils rolled in like curling waves before retreating back out to the sea where fire flickered like foam along the crests of waves. It was a frightening sight that led her to believe in an even more terrible world beyond her sea of smoke and brimstone. What swam in those smoke waters? She could only imagine.

"Is this the next gate?"

Sai smiled and shook his head in silence. He was dressed in black pants and a black shirt that covered all his arms, but it wasn't the same outfit she remembered him wearing. His shirt wasn't a turtleneck, but rather a loose tunic with a high collar that was kept tied together with leather string. Still, it was Sai. Nothing else seemed changed about him. His skin was still strikingly pale in comparison to his pitch colored hair and matching black eyes and blacker eye lashes.

"I was starting to believe…you weren't real," Sakura coughed the remnants of smoke from her lungs before continuing, "I was almost convinced this had all been a dream."

"It is a dream. You're sleeping, and I'm in your mind."

"How helpful," she chuckled dryly, "Why did you wait so long? I thought you would come back the very next day."

"I would have liked to, but the curse had to wait until your menstrual cycle finished. It's a funny loophole that existed partly because no one believed such a curse would be used on a woman to begin with." Sai took a step towards her and the black sand under his shoes left no footprints, even though it shifted when Sakura took a step back.

"Well that's not creepy at all." She shook her head at the mental image of a curse made out of smoke being scared off by a bloody tampon.

It was true she had just finished a cycle that day prior. It was one of the reasons she had agreed to go out with Karin and Ami to the Orchard in the first place, because who wouldn't want to celebrate after bleeding for a week?

"The Kingdom and her Gate will come upon you soon. I came ahead of it to speak with you in advance." Sai took another step towards her and this time Sakura didn't move. She could see the reflections in his eyes where the light hit his orbs and bounced off the glass.

"Is this Gate anything like the last one, a maze I have to navigate out of?" She remembered the feeling of Marble and shuddered.

"No, this Gate will more closely resemble the previous Kingdom. It is built to be only slightly less challenging than the last Kingdom. The second Gate is fiercer than the first, but less than the Kingdom of Man."

"Now you're just trying to confuse me," She shook her head and waved her hands in front of her face, "Don't think I'm going to keep any of this straight! Aren't I in the Gate right now?"

"It will be challenging and take long, that is all you need to know." Sai looked off at something behind Sakura and waved his hand. The sands around them shifted and Sakura felt herself stumble forward, landing against Sai's chest as he waved towards the distance where black sand and blacker smoke twisted and turned to his will. "This is the world between worlds, the bridge that goes between. Here, I have greater control over the landscape and there is no true threat to your being, but it will only last for tonight. We must make the most out of it."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura tried to find her footing, but couldn't stand without supporting half her weight on Sai's shoulder. She cursed under her breath and gave up, choosing to hang off of him.

"Tonight you will choose the direction of your next world. The Gate's landscape is still undecided. You can influence it in a way that was impossible for the Marble Gardens. My gift to you."

The sand in front of Sai opened up and the smoke rolled back like a scroll and a host of animals waited on the beach, docile and inanimate.

"What is this?" Sakura asked, blinking at the sight.

There was a wolf, a bear, a hawk, a hare, and a snake, each sitting a short distance apart from its neighbor without moving.

Sai nudged her forward and she found the ground stable at last, and solid enough to walk on.

"You must choose a totem to aid you in the next world. Make your selection based on which animal most strongly resonates with your character. It will be your ally in the next world and your enemy."

At the thought of an animal enemy Sakura instantly looked to the harmless hare, but stopped when she remembered it would have to be her ally as well. The Snake was out of the question, as was the hare. Snakes weren't something she liked associating with for better or worse, and that desire for separation only grew stronger when she remembered Orochimaru and his snake eyes.

The hawk was beautiful, but she felt separated from it. Standing in front of the bear she felt dwarfed, even though the dark furred grizzly was standing on all fours. That left the wolf. Sakura walked over and stopped in front of the large dog, taking in the grey white pattern of his coat. His eyes were frozen on display, but they were a startling saffron all the same, grounding Sakura where she stood.

"It's not even a choice. I'm going to be cliche and go with the wolf," Sakura said, reaching out her hand to run her fingers through his fur. He was soft to the touch and strong with lithe muscle underneath. It reminded her of the Husky her grandmother kept until the old dog couldn't move anymore, and died in the garden. She couldn't remember his name for the life of her though, no matter how much she tried to recall it.

"Then the decision is made," Sai said, and all the other animals faded away, "I hope you are comfortable with the cold, Sakura."

######  _ "See, we were never about butterflies. We've always been about burning stars. All about us is unearthly and radiant." _

######  _ — Anna Akhmatova, Anna Of All The Russias: A Life Of Anna Akhmatova (2007) _

Sakura blinked in surprise, pivoting on her heel. "What? Wait, what was that about the cold!?"

When Sakura woke up, the taste of smoke still stuck to the back of her teeth and under her tongue. Stumbling towards the porcelain sink in the bathroom, she bent over and spit. When she raised her eyes to meet her reflection in the mirror, she saw the bags and redness that lined the rims around her lashes. She wanted to yawn, even though she knew she had one of the deepest sleeps in her life, because there was something exhausting about dreaming with Sai.

"Don't do this to me," she breathed out loud.

She sounded sad, heavy, and desperate, but deep beneath her breastbone in a corner of her heart, she felt light. In spite of all the blood, bruises, and tears, there was a part of her that didn't fear the dreams. No, more than that, there was a part of her that welcomed the dreams, and danced when her world slipped away in favor of whatever her imagination had in store for her that evening.

Dressing for a day of cleaning around the house, Sakura flew through the hours. One after another, minute after minute evaporated under her hands. She had her homework finished, her fridge stocked, and her dress some more pinned and sewn in places before the sun set. Karin called that evening and whined until they had a skype chat set up where the two of them could talk about their costumes for Ami's ball, the cute bartender from the Orchard, work, school, and everything else. The only thing Sakura didn't mention was the dreams, and Karin didn't say anything about it either until Sakura was about to log off.

"It's too early for that," Karin complained, scrunching up her nose in distaste, "What's the rush."

"I have classes in the morning."

"Eleven isn't the morning." Sakura rolled her eyes. 

"Class starts at eleven, but it’s an hour and a half commute and I don't like falling asleep on the train with strangers. I have to be up early to get things ready anyway."

"You're no fun. How many classes are you taking this semester?” Sakura listed them all out in her head before replying. 

"Only four, but two are online classes and two are hybrids, so I actually only have to go into school one day a week, but it's all day. That's why we can't hang out on Tuesdays." Karin frowned. 

"Why are you going to bed so early, Sakura. Does this have anything to do with what you talked to me about on the drive home last night?"

Sakura didn't say anything, but she pulled away from the screen and looked away, and that was as good as any answer to Karin who knew how to read her friend by now. Sakura sucked on her bottom lip before biting it, wishing she had a stick of chapstick to keep the cracks moisturized. If she remembered correctly there was a green tube of skittles flavored chapstick in the pocket of her old jeans.

"Sakura," Karin tried again, "Do you want to talk about it?" The sound of her voice was heavy in Sakura's ears. The pink haired girl shook her head.

"No, not tonight, and maybe not for a while. I…hey, look, I'm not crazy. I'm just dreaming, and that's not something to be concerned about." 

"Fine, be a bitch about it. I just wanted to hear a good story," Karin shrugged. 

The tone was light and it made Sakura feel safer, like there was more room around her that allowed her to breath freely. No longer confined in a tight social setting. She looked at Karin and saw the annoyance and silently thanked her friend for it.

"I'll tell you about it when I'm ready," Sakura confessed.

Karin just rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed. Karin wouldn't press the issue, but Sakura knew that Karin wanted to. Before Sakura could say anything, or before Karin could say goodbye, the redhead logged off, forcefully shutting the lid on her laptop and leaving Sakura alone in her room. The screen went back to blue and the disconnected phone icon showed up once, flashed, and then faded out.

"She's angry with me," Sakura said out loud, even though the channel was cut and there was no one to listen to her… no one to talk to in the first place.

Sakura shut down skype and was about to log off, closing her laptop, when an icon caught her eye. It was for Microsoft Word. The light under the icon let her know the program was still on, even though she didn't have a page up. With a simple click, a fresh new page popped up. In the upper left hand corner there was a blinking dash symbol staring back at her, waiting for her to type.

The keystrokes came easy, spilling out from her fingertips before she even knew what she was doing. She autosaved after only a few lines and the box asking her for the document name came down. Carefully, as if unsure of her decision, she named the document Dream World-Level 1. Scrunching up her nose, Sakura backspaced until the title option was blank again and started over. Kingdom1. Still not liking it, but not wanting to go back and input something else, Sakura kept it as a working title and went back to the actual page of her document where she had begun to write out a short description of the Marble Gardens.

_ "Flowers bled from stone in woven rivers. Red and black, the faces of poppies turned outwards in all directions, seeking an escape from their stony imprisonment. Why did the stone bleed such vivid red flowers in place of fragmented geodes? Why was something so alive and fleeting residing inside the body of something so dead and cold? If I had been turned to stone then, what flower would I have bled for the next man to see and pity?" _

When Sakura opened her eyes again, the world around her was so terribly white she was almost sure she had awoken in the wrong place, but no, the world wasn't bleached free of color, it only looked that was as she lay on her back and stared up at the sky full of pregnant clouds and tempest winds. Some bellies were darker than others, some were wider and fuller, but all were wide and swallowing. Whatever color the sky should have been, Sakura saw no trace of it as she stretched out on the ground.

"Where is this new land?" Sakura asked out loud, half expecting Sai to be there when she stood up again. The world around her was just as white as the sky, if not even more white, as snow clung to the hard earth, making it soft and moist.

Sakura turned around and surveyed her surroundings. She was pretty high up on the side of a mountain, looking down on a snake shaped road that wound around the base of her mountain. All the world was white around her except around the road, where red bloomed out against the snow like poppies from the stone. That's when Sakura saw it; the bodies.

Jumping down from the ledge, Sakura scaled the not-so-steep side of the mountain, loosening rubble and rock underfoot so that the mountain slid with her as she kept her eyes fixed on the poppies in the snow. The closer she drifted, the better she could see.

There were figures in the snow, half buried and partly trampled into distorted shapes to be frozen by the wind and snow until they were stiff and blue. A girl in twelve different gypsies scarfs lay on her side with one arm partly raised, her fingers bent into a claw that held nothing but the cold. Here eyes were open, searching, and her mouth hung open at an angle. Some little distance away from her lay a man in rags and scarves. His beard was full, but his mouth was choked with upturned snow and his eyes were shadowed under a cap that had sunk down over his face.

Close to the two was an overturned cart that was toppled and smashed in, so that its original shape and size were no longer evident. Shattered fragments of brightly painted wood lay scattered in the snow. From the wreckage, leather reins and straps lay in pieces, torn or pulled apart. There was a great deal of blood in the snow, though, so Sakura assumed whatever had been pulling the young couple's carriage had been taken away in a badly wounded, if not lifeless state.

Finding another hand half buried in the snow, Sakura followed finger to palm, to wrist, to arm, to elbow, to nothing. The disembodied arm led to nothing but more blood in the snow and other fragments of what she believed to have been another man, if his wrist size was any indicator.

There was a small yip sound, and Sakura looked up to where the road curved around the mountain side and out of sight. It might have been the wind… it was probably the wind. There was no use jumping over it, but Sakura crouched down and picked a piece of speared wood. Grabbing the dull end, she swung once, testing its weight before gripping tighter.

The snow gave no resistance as she rounded the bend in the road. It was soft and wet under her booted foot, meaning it was melting. The world was white and cold around her, but that cold would not last long. One foot in front of the other, Sakura approached the bend and stepped around it.

There were even more bodies than before, and another site of wrecked transportation. Sakura counted quickly with her eyes, -two, three, four- the remains of at least five men sunk into the snow, staining it red. There were other curious things sunk into the snow, curious things such as wooden spears and broken arrows. The muzzle of a rifle stood out of the snow, and another lay half buried just inches from the hand of a fallen man.

Sakura reached for a broken shaft when the noise from before froze her in place. She stilled and strained her ears, hearing something coming from behind the wreckage. Still cautious, she angled her wooden weapon with purpose and rounded the site of the overturned cart.

At first, she almost didn't see it, since white and white blended so well, but buried in the snow was the half gutted body of a large female wolf with a limp tongue and bead-like eyes. Against her breast nestled two dead cubs, one gray one an ashen black. Sakura felt a sickness settle inside her stomach seeing such small creatures still without life. It was only for a moment, but in a moment the death of two infant animals moved her in a way the death of the humans couldn't.

'That's because you're a heartless bitch, Sakura,' she thought to herself.

The noise from before rose up again, and this time Sakura saw movement. A snout poked out from between the two still bodies of the wolf pups. Another tiny head poked out, tasting the air with a pink tongue before burying back beneath the dead, warm bodies.

Sakura dropped to her knees and crawled over to the bodies, picking apart the deceased pup to dig out the one that still wiggled with life. It yipped in a pinched voice as she held it in her hand. It was tiny, smaller than the other two, but it still had the energy to kick out at her and whimper.

_ "You must choose a totem to aid you in the next world. Make your selection based on which animal most strongly resonates with your character. It will be your ally in the next world and your enemy." _

Looking down at her own body, Sakura saw that she was dressed in muted colors with black pants tucked into tall brown boots. She wore a long double breasted wool coat over two layers of shirt, both of which were tucked into the high waist of her pants. Tugging open her front shirt till only the last three buttons were in place, Sakura stuffed the struggling pup inside her shirt before buttoning her coat over it. The pup soon stilled against her breast, feeling the heat from her heartbeat and nestling in closer to her chest between her divided breasts.

"I feel like I should name you, but I'm out of ideas right now," she mused out loud. Reaching down into her shirt she scratched him behind the ear and he leaned into her touch, "For now, you're just hungry. I should find food for you."

Sakura closed her eyes and imagined a pit where meat fell off the body of a pig on a roast. When she opened her eyes, the swine was peeling into pieces right in front of her. Taking a strip, she chewed it in her mouth before pulling it from her teeth and feeding a portion of the meet to her pup.

"Nice to see you have an appetite, but you wouldn't happen to know where my obelisk is, would you?"

Sakura didn't know what she expected, but the pup in her coat said nothing. Fed and warm, he buried his head between her breasts and slept.

Not knowing what else to do, Sakura began to walk, following the direction of the road the slaughtered travelers had been following. One foot in front of the other she out walked the sun and moon and stars. Without tiring, she walked until the snow was dew and the earth turned green and brown around the trail.

She felt the pull of waking and stopped to look around her and memorize the location by means of landmarks when she spotted Sai standing between two tall stones tipped against each other. Across his breast stretched a sash of twisted gold rope, connecting the scabbard that held his saber to the red shoulder pad on his left. Brilliant gold buttons mirrored each other down his chest, and his boots were polished so they shone like mirrors in their blackness. Sakura recognized the design of his uniform as Imperial Russian right away.

He nodded in her direction and the world bled like a wet painting. She fell and landed in her body, waking up to a bed full of twisted sheets and empty corners. She reached up for the heat against her chest and found her shirt empty of animal.

"Will I ever get used to that feeling?" she wondered out loud. Swinging out of bed, she caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror and recognized the shadows under her eyes.

The next night, she returned to the world not far from where she left it. She could see the ruins where Sai had stood, and the road was easy enough to find from the cluster of trees she had appeared among. She reached for her chest and found the pup hidden among her folds. He was still sleeping, but he had grown since last time. Feeling her hand, he stirred and stretched inside her shirt, reaching up to lick her finger tips and nip a bit in hunger.

"That's what I'll call you," Sakura hummed, imagining more meat that was red and bleeding. When she opened her eyes there was a bleeding pile at her feet. "You'll be Hungry, since you're always hungry for food. How do you like that for a name?"

He didn't answer her, but ate eagerly, even when she didn't chew it for him. She pulled him from her shirt and let him run around and do his business before heading for the road. He followed like a shadow, obediently trotting after her with minimal distraction.

The pair crested a hill, and suddenly Sakura could see the far distance. A town sat among the hills, protected with high walls and clustered outposts around it. It was far, but at least Sakura could somewhat see it now. It was likely the Obelisk was hidden somewhere in that city. When she looked down, Hungry was panting happily.

"It's as good a bet as any," she said. He didn't seem to hear or mind her, but trotted faithfully when she moved.

It wasn't long before she heard the noise and felt the vibration. Around her were sparse scatterings of trees and brush with mostly open fields, but somewhere behind her there was a party traveling along the road making noise and shaking the earth.

"Hungry!" Sakura snapped. Thankfully, the pup responded, bounding towards her and jumping into her open arms. Sakura stuffed the growing pup inside her shirt and buttoned her coat over the bulge before moving off the road and towards the thickest patch of trees. He shivered, but she held him close, taking care to not pin him or hurt his thin legs.

They came with whoops and hollers. She heard them before she saw any of them, and had enough time to press herself against the side of a tree and slide in between shadows before the band of voices came into view. Still pressed against the bark of a tree trunk, Sakura only saw the first few bodies riding horses before she had to turn away, but she heard the hooves and the carts that rolled along from the back of the line.

Hungry yipped at something and Sakura cursed, pulling her coat tight enough to muffle the sound. The troop kept bouncing by, too loud to hear. Still, Sakura held her breath and prayed she wasn't making a mistake by hiding. In her dream, who was the enemy and who was her friend? Wherever she was now, she was closer to the end of the curse than in the Marble Gardens or in the Kingdom of Man, so it would make sense if this new gate level would be more challenging or difficult than the first. The stakes always went up in games the longer you play.

The bulk of the band had passed on, but Sakura stayed in the darkness, pressed between trees, holding her breath hostage in her lungs. There were only distant sounds, but she could feel the hairs on the back of her arms stand firm. Daring the danger, she leaned sideways and tried to see around the edge of the tree and caught a flash of white before pulling back. There was someone still out there.

On the wind, she felt moisture from a yawning mouth and wild breath from something untamed. Sakura swallowed and tried to slide down, deeper into the shadows. There was a pause, and then she heard the rustle of someone landing in the grass, and then nothing. The shadow grew closer as the body made no sound. She bent at the knees, getting ready to run.

She felt a breeze and turned to the left and there was a face there, grinning with white fangs too close for comfort. Teeth parted and she heard the breath that came before speaking, but she never stayed long enough to hear a word.

Like a startled deer she bolted for the woods and he jerked into a chase after her. Her feet on the ground made the sound her chest echoed as her heart hammered against her ribs, wild and hurried. Her heart was so loud and so deafening, it was terrifying how she still managed to hear the strides of the boy from behind her. She was suited to long races in the dream world, thanks to her inability to grow weary, but she wasn't fast. He would overtake her soon.

There was a streak of white and a wolf big enough to ride bounded out ahead of her and reared on its front legs to face her head on. Sakura missed a step and tripped, turning head over heels and sliding sideways into the dirt so that she was on her back with a white winter wolf standing over her.

"What do we have here?" a male voice breathed in between short pants for air. Sakura felt something cold slide under her chin and was forced to look up when the boy moved the barrel of his musket. His grin was back in place. "Looks like we frightened a rabbit from its den. What reason would you have to run from us I wonder?"

Sakura pulled her arms up over her chest, protecting Hungry from crawling out like he wanted to. He was moving and whining now, but he hadn't crawled out. The large wolf leaned down and sniffed hard.

The boy leaned down and reached for her coat, pulling it roughly open even when Sakura cried out in protest. Hungry launched himself from her chest and attacked the face of her chaser, doing little damage with his tiny claws and half formed fangs. The boy cursed and stumbled backwards, dropping his gun. Still under the wolf that hadn't moved, Sakura rolled onto her stomach and grabbed for the gun before throwing it away. Grabbing a hold for herself in the dirt, she climbed to her feet and reached for Hungry, who still clawed and nipped like he wasn't less than half the size of the boy's torso. Sakura hugged Hungry to her chest and he stilled, but he continued to growl. 

"Who the hell are you?" Sakura hissed, reaching out for that pull that came before waking and finding it far from reach. "And what business do you have chasing me down?"

"Kiba?" a new voice called out, drawing closer. Sakura took a step back just as a woman with dark brown hair tied back and keen eyes stepped into the clearing. With the time to take notice, Sakura saw that this woman had red, inverted triangles painted on either of her cheeks under the eyes. They were the same marks that identified the boy on his face as well. If it was a tattoo or paint, Sakura couldn't tell.

The girl took in the scene, looking from the boy to Sakura, to Hungry, then back to Kiba. Her eyes narrowed before fixing in on the boy. She cursed low, under her breath before stalking over to the fallen boy and picking him up by the back of his neck. 

"What have you done?!" Hungry growled when the boy cried out in pain at the touch of the girl's nails pinching his ear until it bled. 

"Akamaru smelled something! He only acted up at the slaughter sight yesterday, I thought she was a hunter."

The girl dropped the boy named Kiba on his butt and then crossed the distance to stand in front of Sakura. Hungry growled low and Sakura bent her knees, ready to run again. The girl didn't seem phased by this.

"Did you kill those hunters or the wolf mother on the road a day and a half ago?"

"What?" Sakura's mind went back to the scene of the slaughter, "No! Why would you think something like that?"

"Then where did the pup come from?" Sakura hugged Hungry tighter to her chest and he growled again. 

"You can't take him, if that's what you're after. I rescued him after his mother and brothers were killed. I found him in a mess of bodies, but that's it." The girl shifted the weight of her body from one foot to the other. She looked down at the wolf pup and them up at Sakura's face again. 

"If you were lying, he wouldn't be that protective of you. Either way, it's too late to separate the both of you. You're bonded."

"Separate?" The girl shook her head. 

"No, sorry. Let me start over, My name is Hana, I'm from the Inuzuka clan. We've been invited into the city by the crown Tsarevich and his council of Boyer to deal with the poachers and the wolf problem."

"I didn't know there was a wolf problem." Hana nodded, her lips growing taunt. 

"The poachers made one. Wolves are typically not an issue so long as they are left alone, but recently poachers have been traveling into their territories and hunting them out of their dens, and the surviving mates have taken a few lives. How did you not know this? Were you not heading towards Krepost?"

Sakura didn't know how she understood it, but the Russian that fell from Hana's lips was the name of the town. 

"I…I don't know. Do you know if there is a black tower in Krepost? A thin black tower with four sides and a point."

"Krepost has many towers. The one you may be looking for might be inside, but I can not say I know of it."

No, the Obelisk wasn't something you could forget about. Sakura should have known better. When she asked Naruto and Kakashi about it the both of them were just as clueless. Asking people seemed like a useless move.

Hana took a step back and grabbed for the boy again, shoving him forward with a stern, 'apologize' that wouldn't be argued with. Kiba growled at his sister but when he looked up at Sakura his anger seemed to ebb, and a dash of color spread across his face. He rubbed the back of his neck. 

"Sorry for scaring you. I'm Kiba, Hana's younger brother." Sakura nodded, looking over at the large white wolf that had drawn closer with his head lowered. Kiba caught her looking and tugged on the wolf's ear. "And this is Akamaru. He's sorry too."

"My name is Sakura. I'm…just a traveler. I'm sorry for causing you suspicion." Kiba nodded, looking back at his sister and then at Sakura. 

"Yeah, you…if you are heading into the city anyway, you could ride with us. We're making camp soon, but could always welcome an extra set of hands."

"You're inviting me to eat and travel with you?" Sakura asked, sounding suspicious.

"Normally we wouldn't," Hana answered.

"But," Kiba interrupted, "Your wolf pup belonged to one of our clan dogs. Usually we would have taken him back, but since he's all bonded with you now… you're more than welcome to eat with us."

Sakura saw an opportunity when there was one. Regardless of whether or not she felt safe or wanted to go with the siblings, she knew they were important to the narrative. Her totem for this gate was a Wolf, and they were a tribe of wolf breeders and trainers. She didn't need Sai present to tell her this was a good idea. If she said no, she would be making a mistake.

"Where are you guys camped?" Sakura asked, setting Hungry down and looking Kiba in the eye. He didn't grin wide to show off his fangs, but he smiled a little, and it reminded her of Naruto.

Sakura followed the siblings back to the road and down into the valley that put them half a day's trek from the old fortress city that had been rejuvenated and revitalized in the last generation, as a result of the crowned Tsarevich's friendships with foreigners and their merchants. Hana was knowledgeable about anything having to do with the city, and was more than willing to talk to Sakura about it. Kiba hung back and walked alongside his wolf, even though Sakura knew he could ride Akamaru like a steed when the need for speed presented itself.

On the way, when Hana began talking about the merchants from the Orient, Sakura felt the young boy's eyes on the back of her head. She turned to look back and caught him staring. He didn't look away when her eyes met his, but he did lower his face a fraction, as if in submission. If he had been louder and said more, he would have really reminded her of Naruto. Something about his face made her want to talk to him. When he wasn't grinning at her and showing off his fangs, she even felt like smiling at him.

But then she remembered how he towered over her with a smile full of fangs and set her mouth in a straight line with her lips pressed tight.

With her nose a bit in the air she turned to face forward and follow Hana. It might have been her imagination, but she thought she heard a huff behind her shoulder, coming from the boy. Hana snickered at something and said nothing, leading Sakura and her wolf pup towards the clearing where the clan had already pitched the first of the tents.

They were intricate and resembled Mongolian yurts, but were less complex in their design. The tents were made up of many colors and swatches of multi patterned fabric that had once been wildly vibrant, only to have dulled in vividness from travel and wear. At the front and rear of the procession were Vardos, or living wagons. But aside from the few tents and the two Vardos, Sakura saw few protective structures.

"Is this everyone?" Sakura asked Hanna, coming to stand beside the girl as Hana looked over her clan. A wild haired woman with an older face stopped to stare back. Beside her stalked a grey wolf with only one eye and a nasty snarl. The pair looked from Hana and Kiba to Sakura, and then back to the siblings before moving on. Sakura felt her lips turn down in a subtle frown when Kiba made a breathy sound and Hana giggled. 

"Why do I feel like I missed out on something?" Sakura asked, bending down to scratch Hungry behind his ear.

"Don't worry about it. You can stay," Hana said easily enough, "Here, come and let me see to getting you a tent. Most of the youth sleep exposed, out under the stars until we make a more permanent camp alongside the city walls. At least, that's how Kiba and the other kids do it."

"Would you like that better?" Kiba asked, drawing up even with the two girls on the ledge, "The stars will be brightest tonight with the new moon."

"It doesn't matter to me," Sakura said. She remembered how it was impossible for her to fall asleep in a true sleep while in the dream world, "I…wouldn't want you to have to do anything extra to accommodate me. I've gotten along fine on my own so far, after all."

"Where are you from?" Kiba asked, standing closer to her as his wolf trailed behind like a negative shadow; he was a fragment of white that was always on the boy's back.

Sakura blinked, thinking long on what she could possibly say to answer such a question in such a place without having thought about it beforehand. She was in Russia before the czars fell, and communism painted the world in red. This was the Russia of legends, Ivan and the wolf, Baba Yaga, the firebird; this was their world. Where did that leave her?

"I'm from a land far to the west of here. Terribly far, walk until the world becomes ocean and then swim for three months and that is my motherland," Sakura mused out loud, not knowing how else to explain America to the boy. His eyes grew wide. 

"What's it called?" Sakura shrugged. 

"It has many names. You wouldn't recognize any of them. America, United States, New York…" She frowned at how mundane the names sounded in comparison to all the Russian. Glancing sideways, she saw Kiba still watched her. "Where do you come from?" she finally asked. Kiba looked about him, but his eyes came back to her fast like a magnet. 

"The earth, the grasslands, here? I was born on the road and raised with the wolves. Vagabonds have no home, only the grass." He raised a finger and pointed to the Vardo towards the back of the line. "I was born in that, because my mother couldn't get to a river in time. I'm not even half the age of that relic."

Sakura nodded, looking from the Vardo to Kba and then back at the camp. It was then that she noticed Hana sneaking away, leaving her alone with Kiba. She would be reliant on the boy to keep her from getting kicked out once the clansmen saw an outsider they didn't recognize. Looking back over her shoulder at Kiba, Sakura caught him grinning, still staring at her with the same childish smile. She didn't like feeling dependent on the boy.

"Where can I be useful?" Sakura asked, taking a single step towards the campsite, "I'm taken care of for myself, but the camp needs to be set up. There should be a job I can help out with, even with what little I know."

"Y-yeah," Kiba nodded, looking from tent to tent, "I can find a job for you. We'll need firewood and water from the river. I'll see what my mother wants first. Come." He reached out and grabbed her around the wrist. Before Sakura could protest he was dragging her along.

A few of the older clan members paused in the middle of what they were doing to look their way, but their eyes were narrowed at Kiba's whopping laughter. With a shake of their heads, an older couple whispered among themselves about how loud the youths were these days, and maybe something about discipline was mentioned, but nothing about Sakura.

They all had faces.

A young boy much younger than Kiba was grumbling about how heavy his pail of water was as he dragged it past them and Kiba reached out to catch him by the scruff of his neck, stopping him in his tracks.

"Oi, Kon, who else has gone out for water?"

The boy glared up at Kiba with the kind of anger all children fostered in reserve for adult figures bossing them around. The boy, Kon, shook Kiba off and righted his bucket so nothing more would spill over the sides. 

"All my friends are doing water. You're supposed to be collecting firewood." The boy then shifted his glare down Kiba's arm to Sakura's hand and then up to her face. He wrinkled his nose and then looked back at Kiba. "Who are you dragging along, anyway. You know what your mother said about outsiders."

"Sakura isn't an outsider, she's one of us and she's going to help me with the firewood." Kiba was just as loud as the little boy and snarled at the end for good measure. Kon didn't seem to appreciate this since he went red in the face and stuttered.

"You're a pile of dog poop!"

"You're a pile of dog poop."

Kon said something fast in Russian that turned blubbery by the end and Kiba laughed as Kon stuttered over his messy words with red, stinging eyes.

Sighing, Sakura dropped her shoulders and whacked Kiba upside the head. Kon stopped sniffling and Kiba turned to face her with eyes wide with hurt. Sakura just raised a single brown and gave him a look that conveyed how little she cared for his injury. 

"Really? You're picking on a little boy?" Kiba's eyes were still wide. 

"He was being rude to you!"

"I'm an adult. That means I'm old enough to not let petty things like that bother me. Say you're sorry." Sakura turned to look at Kon and narrowed her eyes. "Both of you." Kiba turned to look down at the smaller boy but curled his look and turned his face away. His cheeks were turning pink. 

"Sorry," he bit out in a low guttural tone.

"Sorry," Kon replied before reaching down for his water and running off. When Sakura turned to look back at Kiba he was still staring at the ground. Was this really the same individual who chased her through the trees and grinned with a mouth full of fangs? He looked like a scolded puppy.

Hungry stalked close by and Akamaru, Kiba's dog, sniffed along the ground where Hungry walked, ignoring everyone else. Sakura waited without moving and speaking. After a moment, Kiba glanced up. 

"His name was Kon. He's short for his age and he's only four years younger than me."

"Should I ask how old you are, now?" Sakura asked, detecting an ulterior motive for Kiba's statement.

"I'm seventeen. I'll be eighteen in the Winter, though. I'm the man of my family."

Sakura made a huff sound and turned away, heading towards the woods where she was sure to find some firewood somewhere. Hungry trotted at her feet, devoted to following her. Kiba made a sound and jogged to keep up once he noticed she wasn't going to call out to him or wait for him to catch up.

"W-wait. What about you?"

"Me?" Sakura asked without turning sideways to look at Kiba.

"Yeah, you. How old are you?"

And there it was. He wanted to see how much of an age gap there was. Sakura knew she didn't look old. She had a very youthful face that hadn't changed much since she was sixteen. She knew this because she still used photos she took of herself when she was that age for whenever her name appeared in the college paper or when she needed to show a photograph to someone.

"I am….older than you. Let's leave it at that." Sakura found a twig by her feet and picked it up, followed by another fragment of a fallen branch.

"You don't look old enough to be worried about your age."

"Does it matter?"

"…No."

Sakura smirked, not finding the energy to fight back the sarcastic bite that was beginning to eat away at her self restraint. She didn't do well with teenagers, even when she had been one the level of civil communication was pitiful. 

"Then we'll leave that conversation alone for now. Find your firewood." Kiba chuckled, throwing his hands behind his head. 

"You're funny. Hana just yells at me whenever she gets annoyed."

"Oh, so you picked up on that?" Sakura hummed, reaching down to pull limp wood from underneath a decomposing layer of limp leaves. Winter was in the air, but the season had yet to fully turn. When she looked up Kiba was watching her with his head tilted a fraction to one side. He didn't look away, but his cheeks turned pink the longer she held his gaze.

With a breath he broke off the gaze to turn and look for dropped branches. Sakura felt a stab of guilt for her bitchy tendencies and rolled her eyes at how conflicted she always ended up feeling with these sorts of situations. He didn't seem like he wanted to irritate her. He was too playful for that.

"Who's the leader of your clan, Kiba?" She asked, turning her back to him and walking a bit away so that she didn't look too eager to talk to him again. Kiba picked up his head to follow her with his eyes, but didn't move to follow her. 

"We don't have a leader. My mother is the one who makes the final decisions, but we are a tight knit community family. We all have an equal voice and social standing."

"Even the elders?" Sakura asked, thinking back to the two older clans members who whispered among themselves.

"We take care of the elders and respect them for all their years, but their voice is measured just as much as mine."

That was unusual, Sakura thought. Typically with nomadic cultures there was almost always a leader of some sort and she had a hard time thinking of a time or culture where the old were held with the same regard as the young.

Hungry ran off ahead and Sakura let him, knowing he would come back to her in a minute. He never ran far from her for long. He didn't appreciate the separation. Kiba's dog followed.

She stopped when she found a long tree branch that could have been a walking stick if it was thicker. Sakura picked up one end and bent it over her knee, bending it wildly before it snapped with a harsh crunch that splintered over her hands. She snapped it once more and had three pieces to add to her pile of wood to burn. It wasn't a modest pile, but Sakura was proud of her ability to find what she could when all things were considered. And heck, her pile was larger than Kiba's, and he wasn't a stranger to these lands or way of living like she was.

Thinking of Kiba, she looked up and couldn't find his face between the trees. He had walked off in an opposite direction, likely thinking she was right beside him when she had, in actuality, veered off to the side to pick that long stick. Not being in Kiba's presence gave her mixed feelings. She was supposed to stay close to him and his people because they were likely a big part of this story line, but she didn't like being pestered so consistently.

A rustle of leaves behind her caused her to turn and her breath caught on her lips in the wave of a chill. It was always cold outside, but her face felt the sting of an icy breeze weaving through the trees. Sakura breathed again and her breath was a cloud of white beyond her lips, drifting then gone. The sun was dangerously low, but she didn't expect the temperature to drop so fast.

There was a rustle of leaves again and Sakura spun once more. She dropped her wood, grabbing a single stick to brandish as a weapon. Hungry still wasn't back yet, and Kiba was out of sight, so she was alone again.

"Kiba?" she called in a low voice, wondering if this was his idea of a silly prank. She turned on her heel, scanning the spaces between the trees.

"Sai?" she called out, hoping it was him she heard moving. But she knew it even before she called out to him that it wasn't Sai. Sai would have answered her by now. Where was Sai, anyway?

Sakura felt a wave of cold so powerful, her heart stopped in her chest before beating to life again. Sakura coughed with dry lungs, finding it hard to breathe with all the numbness in her chest. When she looked up, the trees around here were heavy with white. There was frost and ice on each and every leaf, crawling up the sides of the trees and in between their grooves.

This wasn't natural.

"Who is this?" Sakura hissed, spinning again, even though it hurt her lungs. She could taste the frostbite under her ribs. Tiny mouths with tiny teeth bit at her insides and ate her slowly.

She felt his presence like a new wind, and when she turned back around he was there. She narrowed her eyes dangerously. 

"Who are you?"

The boy standing among the trees was pale and still like the snow around him. His hair was a blond so light, it looked white when draped along either side of his face, down to his shoulders. Sakura thought his eyes were red the first time she looked, but upon closer examination they were a glassy sea green with pin points for pupils. There was red koi paint under either of his eyes and two red dots painted above his thin eyebrows. He was dressed in a red Imperial Russian military uniform with a saber dangling at his side, one arm bent to rest across the hilt while the other was tucked under the fur trimmed cloak that draped over only one shoulder.

She didn't see him move, but the glare from his breast buttons caught her in the eye and when she blinked he was gone, but then again he wasn't. He had moved with a wind to stand in front of her, close enough for her to taste the snow in the air. That was his attribute. He was the Jack Frost nipping at her nose.

"You're dressed like Sai," Sakura said aloud, as soon as she realized it. The comparison was too similar to be coincident, and it was apparent this boy was no normal actor to the story. She swallowed her fear and tried speaking again. "Who are you?"

"The Sigh of Dejection was a fine companion throughout the first world, but this gate and this kingdom are mine. You shall not be seeing that degenerate around my company for as long as you are here." Sakura remembered seeing Sai among the stonehenge. 

"What do you mean? Sai should have followed me here. He's in this world."

"No, that role has been passed. You are mistaken. I am not the guide you must concern yourself with." He took a step closer and Sakura felt her blood slug through her veins, nearly too frozen to flow. "I am the Breath of Discontent. The white born Kimimaru."

He reached for Sakura's eyes and she saw it before his fingertips could make contact. A race of ancient people who fought with bones and wore fur like clothes. Dark haired and tanned, they ran from holes in the hills and slaughtered their enemies for the horror of it. This boy, the boy that walked with red painted under his eyes, lived among them, locked away when the killing was done. He made friends with bones and stone, having no one else on account of his abnormality. The albino born with white hair and eyes, like the sea churned from a storm, was an ancient creature.

He had lived on the earth too little to leave an impact, but with smoke and frost and thunder and seafoam, there was a place for him. He slept in the coils of the great snake. Sakura saw the serpent in the vision shift, it raised its head and looked into her. With a jolt, it seized up and sprang for her, cutting free the connection. Falling back on her butt, Sakura coughed into her chest and gasped for breath as her heart pounded like a hummingbird's.

"What the hell was that?"

"The fastest way to make you understand. I will not use words for your convenience as the other would." He circled her and stopped when he was directly behind her. When he bent down it was over her, his hair draping down like curtains around them. "You saw my master, did you not."

It really wasn't a question.

"The snake…." She remembered Snake Eyes and all the venomous serpents inside of Nagato's blood and felt a hate hot enough to warm her insides. Sai's words came back to her. "You're an ally of the Dream Killer!"

"Sometimes." The boy straightened up and circled around to stand in front of her, his arm still draped over his scabbard's hilt. "He is my master, and I am not ought to forget that for a whelp such as yourself, no matter how pretty your eyes might be."

His lazy hand trailed up to grip the hilt of his sword. A second hand peaked out from behind his cloak, and Sakura knew what would happen next. The stance was too easy to read. It was lazy and relaxed enough to pick out even without the formal training. She heard the sound of metal against scabbards when Kimimaru stopped.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

A new blade appeared alongside Kimimaru's pale neck, drawing a sliver of blood. The white haired boy's unfocused eyes closed in concentration.

"You shouldn't be here. The eye forbids it."

"The eye has not been watchful in millennia. I'm willing to risk it," Sai said in an even tone before finishing it off with a plastic fake smile, "The question is, are you?"

"I will cross blades with you if I need to," Kimimaru warned.

"Maybe you will, but it won't be today. It's not worth it."

Kimimaru looked to the blade extended beyond his shoulder and then down at Sakura. With thinly pressed lips it looked like he was about to try something when Hungry barked loudly, bounding down to the clearing where they all stood. Hungry seemed bigger than last time, but that was likely due to all the hackles raised along his body as he growled low and fierce at the white haired intruder.

"Sakura?" Kiba called from not too far away.

"I'll repeat it again, it's not worth it," Sai intoned.

Sakura waited, poised in position just beyond the reach of a short sword. Even with Sai there, she didn't trust the boy with white hair enough to stand that close to him as he made his decision on whether or not he was going to fight them in the woods. Behind her she heard Kiba and his wolf looking for her.

There were the sounds of ice cracking; Kimimaru's face went transparent in parts before converting into ice and snow fragments. Before he was gone, like Sai was when he became the smoke, he turned his pretty green eyes onto her. She stilled but didn't move. 

"There will be other days," he said in a soft voice before he was nothing more than the ice on the wind.

Sakura stumbled backwards when the human shaped wind ghosted through her. Sai was there to catch her.

"He said you wouldn't be here." When Sai said nothing in reply Sakura continued, "And I don't think he was lying. You're really not supposed to be here."

"What would make you say that?" he calmly asked, setting her upright and taking a step back.

She couldn't put it into words so easily, but it was a feeling. With this whole new face to the obelisk being opened up, Sakura could feel a depth to the dream world that hadn't been present when dancing at the sock hop or resting in the Marble Gardens. Sai felt like the old world, in this cold Russian land, he was out of place in only a way she could feel. It no longer became something worth arguing over. Now all Sakura wanted to know was, 'what next?'

"What's going on here, Sai?" she said.

The pale boy turned to look between the trees and see the large wolf stalking closer, having followed Hungry's scent. Soon they would no longer be alone, and Sakura was anxious for Sai to say something before that. His eyes slid towards her direction and there was a flicker of something Sakura couldn't read. He hid his emotions too well.

"You will be waking soon," was all Sai said before becoming smoke.

Sakura cried out, stumbling forward in an attempt to grasp his figure before he became no longer solid. Her hand passed through air and she tasted the smoke like sulfur in her mouth. She didn't fall, but she wanted to on behalf of all her frustrations. He was avoiding her on purpose, watching, but not interacting with her in a way that she could feel safe with. She wanted to know what he knew and be that much better prepared for the next time she slept.

"Sakura?"

She looked up to see Kiba stepping towards her, only a few twigs clustered under his arm. He grinned when he saw her, oblivious to her anxiety.

"I think we have enough. We can start heading back to the camp together, if you want. I'll set up the fire with these since it looked like you gathered more." He laughed nervously, "Is that okay?"

Sakura reached out for the dream to be over, unimpressed with how much longer it seemed to take her to complete one dream cycle in this world. It was like, the deeper she dreamed, the longer she slept. So caught up in her own thoughts, Sakura never answered Kiba, so he took a step towards her and reached out to tap her arm with the back of his knuckles. She looked up suddenly and he blushed.

"No, um…" Sakura blinked, trying to focus, "No, I'm sorry…yeah that's okay. A fire, I can do that."

Kiba frowned. "Are you okay?"

Sakura shook her head, stalking past him to the camp. Silently, Kiba followed behind without mentioning it again.

When Sakura awoke in the morning, she felt old and aged. It was as if she had slept her youth away and left her in the husk of an old woman. She took a few deep breaths into her pillow and then rolled over, facing the ceiling. There was a laced layer of ache wrapped around each bone in her back.

Closing her eyes, she inhaled, filling her chest to a rise of held breath, and then exhaled, pushing out all the pain she had taken in. She repeated the action a few more times until the ache passed. While it would be normally concerning to wake up feeling so terrible, Sakura knew better than to complain or think the worst. This was normal for her during the first days of her period. Second day was usually the hardest, especially when it came late. With the changing temperatures, she was off schedule by over a week.

Thinking about it, she remembered starting her period the day before she fought with Orochimaru. There was too much chaos in her mind to really think about something so trivial, but now in this moment of clarity it was coming back to her. She thought it was weird that for a whole month the dreams had stopped. Could there possibly be some vague connection between her dreams and her monthly cycle?

Now that she thought about it, she didn't know a whole lot about the curse in the first place. She knew it was Egyptian in nature, apart from its design, the subtle themes within her dreams were clues enough. Sai once mentioned a name that sounded Egyptian when talking about the curse. A….Ape….Apep….something. It would have to be something she looked up later. It was actually surprising that she had gone this long without doing any research for herself.

Glancing sideways Sakura saw the clock and cursed under her breath. Today she had to commute into the city for classes. It was her long day and she wasn't looking forward to any of it.

A text from Karin made her phone sing from the nightstand. Sakura reached to answer it, but paused in surprise when she saw it wasn't from Karin, but from Ami. Flipping open the message Sakura skimmed the text.

Ami: Wanted to know if you and Karin wanted to go to the Root tonight.

The word Root was hi-lighted so Sakura clicked on it. Apparently there was a louder, looser, secret club underneath the Orchard that only a few invited members could get into once let in on the secret. With Ami's connections, Sakura had a feeling it hadn't taken them long to send her an invitation.

Sakura: What do you wear to that?

There was a while before Ami responded with a photo of her bed which was covered in clothing. Underneath the photo was a caption that read 'help' in slanted letters.

Sakura put her phone down to dress, but typed back as soon as her hands were free.

Sakura: I will be there around 7:00

Ami: 6:30

Sakura: That's what I said.

Ami: Don't be late.

Rolling through the motions, Sakura ate her breakfast, packed her bag, and drove to the nearest station, where she hopped a train into the city. It was over an hour before she stepped onto campus, and by the time she made it to class, she was down to the minute. That's how it was nearly every class day with her.

By the time her last class winded down, she was no less tired than when she first walked in. Yawning wide enough so that the professor could see it beyond her hand, Sakura handed in her paper and filed out with the rest of the students. After catching the train and driving all the way over to Ami's place, it was 6:10 when she rang the doorbell. Ami answered it. 

"I thought you said you were going to be late." Sakura shrugged, stepping in.

"I like to set low expectations for myself so that no one is ever disappointed in me if I don't live up to their standards." Looking around, Sakura noticed the quiet. "Where's your family?"

"The Hamptons? I don't know. I called Karin and she said she would come later, she's working."

Ami began walking up to her room and Sakura followed, still not used to curved staircases or open balconies. Ami's room was just as immaculate, but it was cleverly disguised as an inconspicuous teenager's with all the mess and clutter scattered about. While normally as neat as a pin, Ami was good at making messes when stressed. Sakura dropped her book bag by the door and kicked off her shoes. Ami noticed the bag and how it bulged. 

"Did you bring what you were going to wear tonight with you?" she asked with a tone of disbelief.

"Yeah, why?" Ami looked up at Sakura and scrunched her nose. 

"I don't trust you. What did you bring? Show me."

Sakura shrugged before reaching for the floral skirt and loose mint top that dipped low and flowed like chiffon. It was a nice top, but not something to make Ami impressed. The young Japanese woman looked from Sakura's outfit to Sakura and then back at the outfit.

"That's it?" Sakura felt her cheeks burn. 

"It's nice."

"Yeah, but not for where we're going. Root is a club, Sakura, like with music and a DJ and a dance floor and lights. You're dressing for the Orchard with these pieces….plus you packed no accessories! Where's your jewelry?"

"I didn't…. It always gets in the way, so I just don't wear it." Ami rolled her eyes.

"Wow, and I thought I was bad. Okay, I know what I'm wearing tonight. Now I just have to work on you. Strip, I'm dressing you up for tonight and doing your hair." Ami reached for a brush and then paused, narrowing her eyes at Sakura's face. "And your makeup by the look of it. You're way too forgiving for a place like Root. You'll have to learn from me."

"I'm not used to clubs," Sakura honestly stated, shrugging out of her loose band tee and jeans.

Ami pulled out a pair of super short shorts in black with an attached cover to make it look like a skirt that barely covered the butt. Along with the skirt/shorts, Sakura was given a sleeveless gold sequin top that was made to catch the light with every movement or subtle turn of the body. Even though Ami was smaller than Sakura by a smidgen, the top fit beautifully.

"Do you like gold? Cause I'm going in silver and you can't copy."

"It's nice," Sakura confessed, looking herself over in the mirror, "What about Karin? Does she know to dress up like this?"

"I'll send her a text with a photo once we're done dressing. If she wears that dress she wore to my graduation party, she'll be ok."

Sakura was given a pair of gold pumps to match out of Ami's mother's closet, because Ami was too small to share anything with Sakura. Ami was running a brush through Sakura's hair, adding volume to her already volumized hair, when Sakura's phone buzzed with a text. Ami was standing right next to it, so she picked it up and looked at the name. 

"It's from Karin."

"You can read it," Sakura replied, turning back to the mirror and holding up a curl to spray with hairspray hold, "What does she have to say?" Ami frowned. 

"She said she couldn't get away tonight. Her dad has her working late with the boys. By the time she gets off…she doesn't want to go out."

Sakura cursed, turning away from the mirror. The idea of going clubbing was already daunting enough, but clubbing without Karin was just downright scary. What was she supposed to do without her main wing woman? She was going to have an anxiety attack and die on the dance floor without Karin.

"Can we wait for her?" Ami looked up from the phone and tried to not make her lips turn downwards like they wanted to. 

"I guess…but she'll still be tired. Do you think she would come if we waited?"

"No," Sakura answered without thinking.

She knew Karin didn't want to come, and that even if they waited the redhead would find some other sort of excuse to get out of the date. For whatever reason, Karin seemed distant with Sakura. It was as if Karin was avoiding Sakura.

Ignoring the thoughtful pause, Ami pulled out an eyeliner and took Sakura face between two fingers before beginning to trace an exaggerated line off the corner of said girl's eyes. Sakura didn't wear makeup, but Ami knew how to dress up a stranger enough to make up for Sakura's inadequacies. Within minutes, Sakura's appearance was transformed into something foreign and confident with long black lashes and gold liquid liner traced underneath her lower lids, making her ethereal. Bright pink lips and a beauty mark strategically placed made Sakura club material.

It was amazing how only a few minutes could transform her literally into a new person. Sakura was trapped in the mirror, struggling to recognize herself in the glass. She looked like she could topple empires and leave men begging with a look. Anything she ever did with her own make up was petty in comparison.

"Damn," she breathed aloud.

A minute later Ami walked out equally radiant in soft white and silver detail. She looked like she walked off a moonbeam and into a disco globe. 

"Ready?"

Sakura didn't answer, but she nodded and followed the shorter Asian girl from room to car to road to club.

They had to enter through the Orchard via a back room that was marked off as Employee Only. Beyond a velvet red drape there were two men in front of a second door they held open for Ami when she nodded. Once the door cracked open, the thumping bass hit Sakura and the sound of a mad DJ in control of the sounds met her ears.

Noticing her hesitation, Ami grabbed Sakura's hand and let the pale girl down to the dance floor. The floor was a sort of see through glass that shot up beams of multi colored lights every other second only to be redirected and caught in the mirrors of a floating disco ball. It wasn't crowded, but the room was large enough for the dance floor and surrounding booths for reclining and relaxation.

Sakura was tempted to go off and find somewhere to sit down but Ami had her hand and was tugging. The song was something electric and pumped with energy that Sakura couldn't hear clear enough to know if she liked it or not.

Ami mouthed something that looked like 'just dance' before spinning Sakura across the glass floor pieces. It was dark enough that Sakura doubted there was anyone paying too much attention to her, so she did just that.

Closing her eyes, Sakura moved a little and then a lot, keeping herself confined to one square as Ami moved around her. Hands above her head, she folded wrist under wrist and swiveled her hips in time as she shook her head from side to side.

There was something therapeutic about dancing without a partner. Raw and unplanned without a set of steps she had to follow, she freed up her body and let herself go until the stress had melted down to her fingertips to roll off like rain droplets. Karin avoiding her, the stupid dream, the new semester, the commute, her mother, the house, the job, her future, her sleep, her lack of a love life, all of it rolled off until she was nothing but a thumping beat.

When she eventually stepped off the floor, her body ached and she was tired, but in a good way. She laughed as she tumbled against Ami and the two fell into a booth laughing and giggling.

"Better?" Ami asked, lowing her lashes and gazing across the room for a figure who appealed to her standards.

Sakura threw her head back and sighed. She did feel better, or at least better equipped to fight whatever would come next to stress her out.

Blinking, she looked up to the balcony across the room and saw a figure watching her. She sat up and turned to look at him better and he flinched, bowing his head and running off.

"See something you like?" Ami asked with a low chuckle. Sakura shrugged, closing her eyes again.

"No, it was just the bartender from the last time we were here. He must be working tonight."

When she woke, she was still wrapped in woven blankets atop a wrap of fur. She blinked, stretching her arms out in front of her before climbing to her knees and turning to take in her surroundings. It was just barely dawn and the campsite was all but silent. The children and the elderly were still sleeping out of sight. A few adults were up and climbing out of their tents, but most still slept, including the dogs.

Sakura unfolded her legs and stretched them out in front of her before rolling her neck and standing. A body of dirty fur rose up from across the campfire, and Hungry bounded over the obstacles to tackle her onto her back. It had only been a day, but already he was too large to fit into her shirt, but only just barely. If she tried, his hind legs would poke out from underneath the hem of her jacket.

Hungry whined and licked her face, nipping at her ear when she tried pushing him away.

"Fine, fine," she hissed, pulling out a bandana and waving it in front of his face. He grabbed onto it right away and tugged with a low snarl and a playful wag of his tail. Grumbling about how sore she felt, Sakura rose to her feet and began tugging Hungry away from the campsite towards the tree line so that they wouldn't be a disturbance.

Once they got to a safe distance, Sakura dropped the rag and picked up a short stick that was fairly thick and stubbly. Hungry's eyes lit up and his ears lifted till they were straight in the air. Sakura waved the stick and then she chucked it as far as she could. Hungry took off after it like wildfire on gas. He was fast, but he was also messy, ripping up the earth and stumbling through the dirt to get to what he wanted. Sakura picked up a few more sticks and chucked them whenever Hungry got close enough to return the previous branch, and for a good ten minutes that's how they played with each other.

Chuck and return, chuck and run, chuck and return, chuck and run.

Sakura put her whole shoulder into it and tossed the tree branch high. Hungry tripped over his feet a bit, but took off running, only to slam to a halt when Kiba's pure white wolf hound intercepted the toss, catching it between his teeth and snapping it in his jaws. Hungry was stunned for a minute before he took off with angry barks to attack the larger wolf in the hind legs. Sakura cursed, thinking her dog would get pulverized, but Akamaru didn't even flinch when the pup landed on his leg with teeth and fangs.

"Akamaru, come!" Kiba shouted, not caring if he was loud enough to wake anyone back at camp.

Sakura turned to watch the younger boy approach. He was smiling cheekily in a sleeveless white knit top and bunched up fabric pants that were tucked into his boots. In spite of the chill, he didn't bother covering up his chiseled features. Under the fabric of his shirt she saw the beginnings of a black, tribal tattoo with a shape covered and out of view. Whatever it was, it was painted over his heart.

"You're up early," she commented. Kiba yawned before answering. 

"I could say the same to you. We don't usually get up so early, we like to sleep in and run with the moon. I guess you're not like that."

"I saw people up," Sakura replied with a shrug, turning away to look down at Hungry as he pawed at the two broken halves of his stick.

"Someone should always be awake, in case of attack, but because of where we're going, we're not in a hurry to rush out. The city won't let us inside, so we'll have to pitch in the shadow of the great wall for as long as we're invited to stay."

At the blank look on Sakura's face, Kiba smiled a wide toothy grin.

"They don't appreciate the uncivilized ruffians who sleep on the same earth as their animals. They might let you in though. You're neat and tidy enough. Hells, you might even pass off as a fancy lady mistress with the right furs."

Sakura frowned, not knowing if she had just been complimented or called a prostitute. Either way, it wasn't worth an immediate reply. She let her emotions simmer for a bit before saying anything more.

"Hn, so they hired you without a willingness to even look at your faces. I'm having a hard time understanding why you ever agreed to such a transaction."

"You too?! Man, I thought I was the only one going crazy over this whole thing. Mom and the elders said it had to do with serving the greater good and bring balance back into the state of being, and some other cliche excuse that never makes sense. Regardless, the Merchants from the Orient will be the ones who actually come out to talk to us. They are foreigners too, but they're clean and fancy looking foreigners that have deep pockets and table manners." Kiba's voice trailed off towards the end and he scratched the side of his cheek. 

"There is one that's nice to us. She's the heir to her family clan or whatever, but she's a lamb's winter wool pillow. Soft through and through. Her cousin will take over the family if things continue as they do." 

"You like her?" Sakura grinned. There was a shadow of color on his cheeks, but he stuck his nose up in the air and narrowed his eyes in her direction. 

"As if! She's just terribly fun to tease! No, she wouldn't last a day without her pampered paupers there to feed her every step of the way." Sakura hummed and nodded her head, pretending to agree with him. In her head she silently commented with a simple, 'I ship it,' before he could say anything more. 

"Will I get to see this princess?"

"Depends." His smile grew wider, "Do you plan on staying with us? Normally we wouldn't bother offering, but your kin is one of ours, so it's like you're already family."

Regardless of what she wanted or didn't want to do, Sakura knew that the story would progress if she stayed close to the clan of her chosen totem. It was painfully obvious that the place she was meant to be was with the people of Kiba's tribe. Whatever it took to get out of this world, it would likely involve the wolves and the people who lived among them.

"What would I have to do?" Sakura turned away from looking out across the woodland and set her eyes on Kiba, "I doubt you abide by those who don't pull their own weight and I'm used to traveling on my own."

"Can you cook?" Sakura wrinkled her nose. 

"Enough."

"You watch kids?"

"Right over the edge of a cliff."

"Babies?"

"Never."

Kiba's smile settled into a more serious line as he closed his eyes and ran his thumb across the edge of his jaw, patting down the stubble that darkened his features. 

"There are always…odd jobs. Or," his eyes lit up, "There is the hunting. Can you hunt game?"

Sakura technically couldn't, but she was nervous about being stuck in an odd job slot or watching babies the entire time she slept, so she decided it was a safer bet to say she could do something she planned on learning herself. Thinking quickly, she remembered the musket Kiba carried.

"Yes, but not like you. I happen to be handy with traps, but since I've been traveling there hasn't been much time for that and it's not convenient. Would you be willing to show me how you hunt alongside your wolf companion? I think it would be important for me to train Hungry in the same way." From the way Kiba lit up, Sakura thought she had just offered him a city filled with smoked meat, and not asked for a favor. 

"Definitely! Of course I can do that." He reigned in his voice, but couldn't stop smiling, "It's practically my obligation. You're one of us now and really, it won't be hard. He already loves you and would follow you into a fight, so the hard part's already over."

Sakura remembered the way Hungry stood between her and the pale boy when Sai showed up to save her. She knew enough to know that Hungry was meant to protect her. He would be her ally. Among the bear, the hawk and the snake, she had chosen him out of a cast of guardians for better or for worse, and even though she sometimes worried she chose the cliche or made a mistake by passing over the bear and hawk, she knew that those fangs and claws would be her salvation.

The sun was already high in the sky and Hungry pawed at her boots, trying to tug her laces free and bite them for entertainment. Sakura reached down and grabbed him around the neck and he rolled over onto her hand, trying to bite her wrist, but Sakura scooped him up and squeezed him to her chest until he stopped squirming. With his face so close to hers, he reached out and licked her lips, causing Sakura to pull back a bit.

"Don't worry about that, it's his way of submitting to you. Wolves lick the muzzles of the ones they respect and will follow. Just…don't try licking him back." Sakura made a face. 

"I wasn't planning on it." Letting him go to run off and then dash back, Sakura straightened her back and felt her ribs pop with just an extra twist, "Should we head back to the campsite yet?"

Without answering, Kiba smiled and began walking back. Akamaru took his cue and bounded off ahead of them in the right direction. Less than a full minute later, they were back among the tents in the clearing where more members of the clan were waking up. Among those up and preparing food was Kiba's sister, Hana. The neat, well mannered girl grinning around the mouth of their cast iron pot.

"You weren't trying to scare off the new family member, were you, my brother?"

An elderly woman sitting close to the fire chuckled into her hand at Hana's words. Kiba's cheeks took on color, but he didn't pout like Sakura expected him to.

"As if. I was talking to her about what she could do here if she wanted to stay around, but I wasn't being mean about it and I wasn't scary either. You can knock it off."

Hana stirred some more before replacing a lid and sliding the ladle through a side handle till it caught at the hook and hung. Wiping her hands down the sides of her pants, she walked over to the two and reached for Sakura's face. Sakura didn't resist as Hana turned her head this way and then, tracing the curves of her face with the soft pads of her finger tips. After a moment, Hana released Sakura with a sigh.

"If you want the tattoos, there is a process you must go through to get them, but you look too pretty without them for me to encourage it. Please know that you're more than welcome among our people and that we don't need you to do anything for us to 'get in,' whatever that means."

"I'm not a slacker, I can pull my own weight." Sakura tried to ignore the fact that Kiba was still staring at her.

"Obviously, or else you wouldn't have made it this far, but don't be in a hurry to sell your services. Soup is almost done. Once it cools, you should talk with me. I want to know where you have come from and where you are going as well as answer any question you might have."

Unintentionally, Hana ended up reminding Sakura of Konan from the last Kingdom she left behind. Both were older sisters who cared about their family and were women who knew how to carry themselves and handle their persons in dangerous situations. It was a nice feeling, being around someone like that.

"That would be great and all," a new voice cut in, "But there's been a change in plans." Sakura turned to look back and saw the ruffled woman with a patch over one eye standing a short ways off with her arms folded across her chest. Her mouth was thin and set in a deep scowl.

"What is it, mom?" Kiba asked, getting a glare for his informal way of addressing his mother and one of the wisest members of their tribe's council.

The ragged woman nodded back towards the road that was just beyond another tree line. Sakura could see horses through the gaps in between tree trunks. 

"That's cause we have company, boy. Wake the others. They should be at least present for this if this is what I think it is," Kiba's mother sneered.

"Who is it?" Hana asked, following her mother towards the trees. Sakura thought Hana's tone wasn't entirely curious. Hana had an idea of who it was that was visiting them, and it didn't sound like they were well thought of. Sakura turned to look at Kiba who had stayed quiet through the ordeal. He glanced between Sakura and his mother who led Hana out beyond the trees. There was a strained look on the boy's face.

"You want to follow them," she guessed.

"I should know." Sakura nodded to a natural trail in between the trees. 

"No one especially forbid you from following them." Then, without waiting for his reaction, Sakura stalked in between the trees and hugged the shadows. Kiba was quick to follow in her footsteps, just as quiet as her.

Up ahead, Hana and her mother stood on the edge of the dirt paved road where a small procession of light colored horses in golden bridles stood with riders equally ornate in their uniforms and cleanly waxed mustaches. Sakura's eyes widened when she recognized the design of the uniform. It was the same type of uniform the boy Kimimaro had been wearing when he attacked her. That must be the uniform of the city guards.

There was a man in the middle whose uniform was customized slightly differently, and it was enough to draw Sakura's attention to his face. He was Asian, not like the other men who were all caucasian looking. His eyes were pale and half lidded, but his chestnut hair curtained past his shoulders in perfectly straight plates that moved like liquid copper when he turned his head. Kiba followed her stare and growled. 

"That's the princess's cousin, you know the one I was talking about, the pushover. She's the heir to the main house, but her cousin is from the branch house and he's the one that is in line to take everything if she or her younger sister fail to sway their political allies. He's a stiff laced bastard that's always been hard on our people. We don't like him."

"You have a name for the stiff then?" Sakura asked, feeling like this boy stood apart from the other guards. They all had faces she could see, unlike the way some people appeared to her in the last kingdom. It would be harder this time around to see and recognize the players, but Sakura had a gut feeling about the boy with pale eyes and perfect hair.

"Neji. His family is the Hyuga clan and they're a main family in control of the merchants of the city and the roads. If you want something transported safely, those are the guys you need to be in good with."

"Why is he in uniform then, if he's a clan member?" Sakura asked, sliding down the rough side of the tree until the bush obscured her crouching figure. Kiba frowned, but followed her down. 

"You're asking a lot of questions about the cousin. Do you think he's handsome?"

"Maybe, but he's wearing a uniform that's unlike the others, and I've seen it somewhere before on a different person." She didn't press the issue as to why Kiba wanted to know if she thought he was handsome. She had a feeling, an inkling, that being the young naive boy that he was, he didn't get to speak with very many females in such a manner. It made sense for a boy in his position to grow a little crush. It wasn't anything worth getting flustered over.

"Someone you know? Who was it?" Kiba leaned closer, intrigued.

"Just someone who tried killing me once, that's all." Sakura glanced sideways to watch for Kiba's reaction, hiding a grin when she saw the flash of shock pass behind his eyes, "It's not a very important matter anymore. Don't dwell on it." Kiba opened his mouth to say something but Sakura shushed him before leaning in closer to the group and straining to pick up their conversation. The boy Neji was talking.

"There has been a plot of land reserved for your caravan outside the city against the great wall. It has been marked with the sigil of your wolf head. Look for it and do not camp anywhere else."

"We didn't agree to any of that," Hana's mother hissed before spitting on the ground at the horse's hooves. Neji made a disgusted face but didn't say anything in reply. "We've never had to be told where to set down before. Is there a reason you're herding us like sheep, now?"

"I assure you, it is to properly utilize the land around the city to its utmost. If you find the land unsuitable or ill sized, seek it up with an official of the city." Neji's tone was dry, if not as soft and fluid as his appearance led Sakura to believe it would be.

"How?" Hana asked, stepping up, "We are not allowed inside, and most of the tribe can not write formal complaints." A new guard stepped up to answer Hana's question. 

"Guards will be patrolling the outer perimeter of the city. They are also there to ensure trappers and the homeless stay to their designated area." Hana's mother barked a harsh laugh and Sakura felt it cut through her like a physical force. It was icy and sharp and cynical all the way through. The wild, one eyed woman looked from her daughter to the boy named Neji with a low lidded glare. 

"That's not going to fly, princess. We are not your dogs to be told what and where to go at your leisure. We both know your patrol isn't there to help or take complaints, they're out there to keep the rabble in line, and they'll be damned if there is one that needs help. You've just insulted my whole tribe, boy."

"Regardless," Neji began to answer, "That is how the city does its business. We only came as a courtesy to you so that you might be prepared going to the city. Follow it or don't follow it. That is always your choice. My men have their orders."

Before Kiba's mother could say anything more, the boy Neji dug his heels into the sides of his steed and the horse surged forward into a canter away from the site, his men trailing behind and following alongside him towards the fortress city. As they passed, Sakura's eyes tracked the boy, Neji, and just as he turned past their hiding position, she felt their eyes meet. It was physical and it lit up the base of her neck with a shock of electrical signals. Neji turned his head to hold their star over his shoulder, but in another second he was too far away to look back and broke off to face forward.

"Damn it, I should have known they would have been trouble," Kiba growled under his breath, "For saints' sake, they can't just leave well enough alone. Power hungry dicks."

Keeping herself from laughing, she tugged on Kiba's arm and then dragged him part way back to camp before he followed on his own. They made it back in time to make it look like they had been waiting in the campsite when Hana and her mother returned, one fuming more vocally than the other.

Hana came over to them and explained what she had heard from Neji while the mother ranted and raved to the elders, who were far more calm about it all. Sakura was surprised to see how many just shrugged and went with the flow of it, not minding or caring either way if they had just been disrespected or taken for granted. This didn't seem to help the older woman's mood. Surrounded by so much apathy, she barked orders until everyone was in their tents, packed up, and mobile.

Sakura followed Kiba and did what he did, shadowing him all the way until they were ready to travel. They had horses, but since they were so close, many chose to walk and lead their steeds on foot then ride them hard and fast like last time.

Sakura lagged behind at the back of the line and Kiba hung back to keep even with her. Their dogs were running along on the side, never far from their sides. He stuffed his hands deep into the pockets of his coat and flapped his elbows a bit for entertainment. He peeked up from under his lashes when she stepped ahead of him. He back was to him, but she could feel his gaze well enough.

"In a rush?" he asked in a suggestive tone.

Sakura smiled to herself, slowing her pace so that they drew even. She eyed him with slitted eyes and he grinned cheekily before turning pink at the tips of his ears and turning his face away. 

"I don't know if I appreciate that tone you're taking with me," she said. He scratched the side of his nose, looking away. 

"If you've never been in the city before, I can take you on a short tour when the others aren't looking." He reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out a small page folded up twice. With care, he unfolded it to show off the signatures and the passport information that had been stamped with a seal that resembled a winged crest inlaid with jewels.

"I thought your people weren't welcome inside the city. That's why they are making you stay outside."

"Some of us can go in for food and stuff, but I had this forgery made at the end of our last winter so that I could sneak in," He folded it up and stuffed it back into his pocket with a secret smile, "Don't let my sister or any of the others know, though, and especially not my mother. She wouldn't understand and would just flip out."

Sakura thought of a passport that was like the one Kiba carried, and reached into the inner pocket of her own coat. There was a small leather book with the papers tucked neatly inside. She pulled it out and unfolded it in front of Kiba so he could see her own papers. His eyebrows shot up a bit. 

"Yours is real."

He reached out to finger the pages inside the leather booklet behind her Russian passport. One had an ornate British embellishment of a shield guarded on either side by a lion and unicorn. There was one for Hong Kong, and another for the colonies in India. There were a few others in other languages she didn't recognize or didn't care to pull out to see better.

"I travel a good deal," she said out loud, not knowing if she believed her own words. Yes, she did travel a great deal, commuting from dream to dream, world to world, train to train, and city to city, but that wasn't what Kiba was thinking about when she said she traveled a lot.

"Always?" he asked.

She shrugged.

"Why?" he pressed.

"It's a curse?" She didn't know how to answer him without lying in some way, "I don't know how to stop."

"It's not too hard," He paused, looking as if he was thinking his words over extra before speaking them, "You just need to find something worth stopping for."

They passed under the shadow of an overreaching tree, and Sakura stared up through the leaves to see fragments of a brilliant blue sky. It was only bits and pieces, but it was enough to remind her it was there. 

"That's what they say," she finally answered with. She didn't wait for Kiba to reply, she just walked ahead of him and kept even with the covered cart at the back of the line.

Half a day on the road, and they were already on the outskirts of the city. Krepost meant fortress, and it was a fitting name for a city walled all the way around twice. There was an outer ring where the poor and the merchants lived, and then there was an exclusive inner ring in the center of the city where only the most wealthy could afford to live. Even with these distinctions, the caravan was not allowed inside the first layer of walls to the outer ring.

Instead, they were quickly spotted by a patrol officer in uniform and ushered off to a plot of land against the great stone wall. There were tents and booths belonging to other merchants on either side of them, leaving Kiba and his family less room to spread out than what they wanted. But aside from his mother, most of Kiba's relatives were chill enough to manage with what they had been given and not complain.

The sky was dim, and nightfall was not far off by the time Sakura had finished setting up the last of their yurts. Kiba was being lectured to by his older sister about something he rushed through and did improperly. Taking the opportunity, Sakura ducked under the hangings of a gypsy's clothes line and scampered off towards the city gates with Hungry close to her heels. A few families she passed picked up their young ones or backed away when they saw Hungry, but they were moving too fast through the campsite to cause a ruckus.

The mouth to the city was varnished in brass with angles falling gracefully down its semi opened doors. The doors glistened brightly in the last lights of the day as travelers and merchants filed through. Half that approached were held back or turned away and it was becoming obvious why. In addition to having the proper documentation, the guards only turned away the dirtiest and the sickly.

"Krepost means fortress. However, the city is sometimes known for its other name."

Sakura turned slowly to see Sai standing with his arms folded politely. Hungry didn't bark or welcome him, but stood weary beside Sakura. Cracking open a single eye, he took in her guarded expression.

"Do you wish to know what the people call Krepost? You should. It is the city of one thousand and one souls. For every thousand citizens that live within the outermost ring, there is one who lives in the innermost."

"Where have you been?" Sakura asked, ignoring his words and taking a defensive stance with shoulders raised.

"Absent," Sai looked away, "This is not my gate, nor is it my kingdom. I should not be here."

"I'm calling bull on that one. You're supposed to be my guide, or my escort, or whatever, and you're here now, so that should count for something," She took a measured step towards him and Hungry followed, but Sai still looked away, "What is the albino to you?"

Even without naming him, Sakura knew the description was enough for Sai to know who she was speaking of. There was no movement across his face, but Sakura saw a vein in his neck bob. 

"Has he approached you since your last encounter?" She shook her head so he would have to look at her to get an answer. Out of the corner of his eye he caught the swish of her hair brushing against her face and nodded.

"Good, he is not eager for obedience this round. To others, he was a zealot in his devotion to the snake. After years of slumber, he has grown lazy and uncaring."

The knife wound from Orochimaru's severed hand still rang in her body, reminding her of the pain. Her flesh would not soon forget its undoing. 

"Does he want to kill me?"

"It's likely, yes. He has killed dreamers in the past, but it has been so long since the last dreamer died, I don't know if he's remembered how terrible it felt when the world faded back to sand and desert. We lost our kingdoms and castles and all the wonderful worlds were wiped away with every dead dream," Sai closed his eyes and then opened them slowly, so only half his lids shadows from his lashes played across his high cheekbones, "He won't touch you…not yet, but beware his Slay Vala. The water vipers, or the white women will come for you sooner or later." Sakura made a mental note to look up slay vala later on in the real world or ask Sai about it later. 

"Will he follow me into the kingdom?"

"Yes. His powers will be no less diminished, but he is forbidden from directly interfering in your affairs. Kingdoms are no less safer than gates, but they are larger. I will teach you how to hide yourself and maybe he will not find you." Sakura remembered the long road she had to walk when she first fell asleep in the second gate. 

"This dream is rather expensive as well, don't you think? How much bigger is the kingdom?"

"Bigger." Something caught his eye and his posture changed suddenly. Sai reached out and touched her shoulders lightly before turning them so she spun around. He pointed to the gates and his wrist knocked against her neck, "Look there and tell me if you see the woman cloaked in blue."

There was indeed a woman who sported a long velvet blue cloak that she drew about her shoulders as the hood sank further down her face. Sakura could see a scattering of brightly colored beads sewn into the neckline of the dress just as the woman turned back to the guard and produced her passport. The armored male took her papers and scanned them briefly before looking up with wide eyes. Nodding, he turned the pamphlet over and bowed from the waist.

The girl made a sound like a startled mouse before waving her hands and looking around to check and see if anyone saw the exchange. She didn't see Sai or Sakura starting from a distance. Whispering something to the man, the girl ducked inside the city and the guard hurried to cut off the line and begin to close the doors with the help of a second guard. Peasants complained, but dispersed quickly enough once they heard the metal bars being slid into place. The city was closed to outsiders for the night.

"What did I just see?" Sakura asked, not understanding how the exchange was relevant.

"That was your wolf boy's princess. Pay her and her family extra mind. They are your actors this time around."

Sakura woke gradually.

Then all at once she was awake, and aware of her wakefulness.

Following a routine, she dressed, packed, and left for work. When she got home in the evening, she spent her last few hours away toiling over the dress spread across her couch. She had a test coming up next week over the last four chapters, which was great, since it was one chapter less than what the professor originally had planned, but nevertheless it was still something Sakura needed to study for.

At ten thirty, she put the dress away and took out her class notes to review for fifteen minutes before it became too dull and had to get up and walk away from it. There were a few drugs she repeated over and over to herself out loud in an effort to remember them, but it was too late to bother reading anything.

Taking a break, she left for the bedroom upstairs that used to be her grandmother's. There was an old gramophone in the corner that had been in working order the last time Sakura turned it on, so she slipped on a record by Ilya Shatrovand, a military musician who served in the Russo-Japanese War, and walked away.  _ On The Hills Of Manchuria _ filled the room in faded notes that still seemed to breathe with as much force and life as the original orchestra.

Sakura stopped in front of her grandmother's dresser and looked into the mirror, seeing the bed in the reflection where the older woman passed on in her sleep. Swallowing her breath, Sakura reached down and unhooked the latch to a long flat wooden box with a dying eagle carved into the surface. A single arrow sprung from his breast as banners and stalks of wheat encircled his body. Inside the box there was a layer of velvet, and then a second lower layer of velvet. Between these two sheets of velvet lining lay an assortment of stars, strung through with veins of gold. A pair of diamond drop earrings in soft gold and matching diamond tennis bracelet and choker. Above it all, sat an antique rose-cut diamond cluster ring that was marquise shaped and mounted in 18Kt pale gold, circa 1880.

"A gift from one of my many lovers," the old woman once cackled while showing off her shiny things to a child who couldn't understand their value.

Sakura's grandmother kept the dying eagle box locked and fitted between her dresser and the wall, disguised as a stopper for the semi attached swivel mirror. If Sakura's mother had known about it, there would have never been any chance of it staying in the house. There had once been two other jewelry chests on grandmother's dresser, but only one was left behind, as it was full of costume jewelry. The other was full of honest gems and precious metals. Sakura's mother got away with selling a lot of it before the other relatives complained, and for now it all was with her uncle, who kept it safe for sentimental value.

Sakura fingered the accessories and wondered about the men who had gifted the articles to her grandmother. Did they ever exist? While it was true that far back in their family there was some old money that had all but dried up, but some of the stories she heard as a child seemed too wild to be true.

Sakura fingered an emerald pendant and heard her grandmother's voice,  _ A gift, from when I danced in the ballet at Kiev _ .

The phone from her bedroom rang, and Sakura heard Iggy Azalea over the orchestra. When she picked it up, she saw that she had one missed call from Karin, even though she had gotten to it before it rang long enough to go to voicemail. Sliding it open, Sakura tried calling her friend back.

"Sorry, I pocket dialed you. I wasn't interrupting anything, right?" Karin answered after the second ring. 

"No, just finished studying for the night, I think," Sakura frowned looking out her window while straining to hear, "Are you out? It's so noisy."

"Yeah," There was a moment without speaking as Karin adjusted her phone, and Sakura listened to the muffled rustling, "I decided to go out with the guys after we closed up shop."

"Where are you?" There were noises and sounds, but no music. Karin grumbled something and there was more shifting of the phone. 

"The Crown Arcade. It's always open till midnight on the weekends." Sakura couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but there was something more subtle under Karin's tone that made Sakura anxious. 

"Are you okay, Kar? You sound annoyed."

"Yeah, cause I just died and I'm nearly out of quarters. What, do you think I'm mad or something?"

"Well if you're dead that would certainly explain it," Sakura smoothly countered, knowing it wouldn't be wise to confront Karin about whatever the redhead was really annoyed about over the phone, "I'm free tomorrow night. Want to hang out at the Orchard?"

"Ami won't be able to make it, she's going to an art show with her parents."

"It can be just the two of us. We can just hang in the rafters and chill, maybe bring a card game." Sakura waited a heartbeat before adding, "I'll drive so you can drink."

"…Tomorrow night?"

"Yes. Saturday." Sakura heard a crash and then a very clear 'game over' from Karin's end of the line but no guttural cursing. A few seconds later the noises all dulled and Karin was talking. 

"Fine, I can do that. But I'm not dressing up to go clubbing or anything like that and you have to bring the cards. I'm getting a Smirnoff Screwdriver."

"I can do that."

"Fine, you can pick me up at seven." The line went out and Sakura felt a little disoriented without the noise and sounds to fill up her ear. The record was done, and all that she could hear was silence.

* * *

_ "Wolves have a basic aversion to fighting and will do much to avoid any aggressive encounters. It has been observed that a socialized wolf had become frantically upset upon witnessing its first dog fight. The distressed wolf intervened and eventually broke up the fight by pulling the aggressor off by the tail."  
  
_ _ — David Mech and Luigi Boitani,  
_ _ "Wolves: Behavior, ecology, and conservation", 2003 _

* * *

When Sakura woke up, she was among the trees not far from the city. She was close enough that she could run to it in a minute's time if she needed to, but far away enough that she wasn't dwarfed by it. Kiba was running up after her, Akamaru far behind him.

"You found me," Sakura commented in an even tone, not knowing how exactly she felt about being approached so quickly by the boy who wouldn't leave her alone. Did she want space, did she need space, or did she need him?

Her thoughts were cut short when she noticed something different about him, or more specifically, something different about his dress. She reached for the lapel of his outermost jacket as he stopped to catch his breath. He didn't move to stop her, but let her push the layer away. Underneath his tattered peasant garb was something a bit more sleek. It wasn't a uniform, but it did look an awful lot like what the tsarist court would have the men wearing. Also, the tattoos on his face were hidden under a power or cream.

"Where did you get that?" Kiba hid half his smile, trying to look sneaky. 

"A gift, and it's what I need to help me into the city. Your papers are authentic, so they probably won't toss you out, but I need to look the part." Sakura clicked her tongue, taking in his face and hair. 

"You can dress up, but someone will have to do something with that hair of yours. Do you have a comb?"

Kiba looked a little taken aback, and Sakura knew it was stupid to have expected so much of the boy. Thinking of one, she pulled a thin tooth comb from within the folds of her own overcoat and then tugged him forward before running her fingers through his hair.

It was thick and full, but only mildly knotted given his circumstances. She tugged him down to the ground and had him sit while she knelt over him and parted his hair into a sleek style that liked resisting too much to stay in place the way Sakura wanted it to. She spread her hand out over his hair and washed it with her oils again and again and again, microscopic drops every time, but gradually the strands learned obedience and Sakura found a happy medium between wild child and controlled Tsarist.

Sitting back on her heels, Sakura crawled around till she was in front of him and could enjoy her handiwork. It was much better, but Kiba looked frozen stiff. It was enough to make her chuckle. 

"What, never had to take care of your hair before? You're shaggier than you dog, Kiba." His face heated up a bit and he ducked his head down to avoid eye contact. 

"I don't want to see it." Sakura rolled her eyes, climbing to her feet. Such a child. 

"Fine, but it looks better. You'll blend in this way. Stand up, we should get going if we want to pass through the gates at all. I'm fairly certain they only let inside a certain number every day to manage the crowds."

"It's…still early. It will be fine," Kiba mumbled, keeping his head down as he rose to his feet following Sakura.

Akamaru and Hungry paced back and forth between the trees and the campsite, and Sakura took notice of how much her wolf had grown overnight. Kiba made a signal with his hand and Akamaru took off into the trees with Hungry on his heels. 

"They'll hunt until we return. My family won't know I'm gone."

"Is it so bad for them to know you've gone into the city?" Sakura asked, glancing backwards to watch the two dogs dash in between the trunks of trees.

Kiba never answered. Before Sakura realized it, they were in a line of travelers waiting to get their papers checked. Kiba unfolded his and held it between his gloved fingers, swallowing a hard lump in his throat. Sakura pulled forth her own booklet and fingered through the papers till she found the right one.

Tracing the edges of her overcoat, she imagined fur, soft rabbit fur growing along the collar. Her boots were fine and polished leather. Instead of rough traveler's pants, her slim trousers were white with blue stripes running down the sides before disappearing inside her knee high boots. A matching fur cap encircled her head, and she reached up to check her ears for the gold star studs she dreamed up. They were hard and cold under her gloved fingers.

Kiba turned to glance back over his shoulder and almost tripped when he saw her in furs. Gaping, he caught himself as he stumbled forward in line, waiting for her to draw up even with him. 

"When…?"

"Hush," she whispered over him, stepping up and approaching the guard ahead of him. The look in the officer's eyes when he looked her person over was satisfying until it settled on her face and stayed stuck there. He hardly glanced at the papers she handed him, keeping his eyes on her face as much as possible.

"What…is your business in Krepost?" he asked in a tone that sounded like he had asked the same question a thousand times since morning.

"Pleasure mostly, no business."

"A-and how long are you staying?" Sakura made a show of shrugging her shoulders and seeming nonchalant. 

"Until I'm bored I suppose. Oh, that's usually anywhere from a week to a month at the very most."

"Will you be leaving before the winter settles, then?" he asked, trying to tell if she should be counted among the residents or not.

"Yes, I shall never vacation so long in one place," Sakura replied, taking her papers out of his hands and folding them back into her booklet before walking off through the gates as if she didn't need his permission, because in truth she didn't.

She stopped after a few steps and turned to look back behind her where Kiba was being interviewed by the same guard. Both were looking to her discreetly.

"Business?" the guard asked, still sounding like a robot.

"Escort," Sakura called out before Kiba could say anything, "And he is with me, come along now."

Without waiting for his reply or his clearance, Sakura began to walk away. A moment later, she heard Kiba on her heels. He was grinning so tightly she knew he was trying his utmost to keep the smile from spreading clear across his face.

"I've never gotten in so fast before. Gah! You should have seen his face!" Sakura grinned, but her eyes were wide and searching the skyline for shocks of obsidian. 

"Yes, well, that's enough now. Don't you think it's time for you to show me this city?" If the Obelisk was in the city, she would have to find it when she had the freedom to wander.

The city was a labyrinth, built in such a way that men in siege would have to labor again and again to bring down the walls that looped back and forth with storefront and homes built right into the stonework. Back and forth, Kiba dragged her up and down the city, showing off all he could while Sakura still searched for the Obelisk.

Krepost was a gate world just like the Marble Gardens. It had only taken her one night, one sleep cycle, to get through the garden maze and into the kingdom. Why was this gate taking her so long? It felt more like a kingdom than the marble gardens. She should be done with this by now.

They were in the middle of a street that arched upwards, closer to the center of the city, when a flash of white caught Sakura's eye. There was a woman dressed in ghostly colors with long white blond hair that reached all the way down to her knees. She was pale and her eyes were a frigid shade of ice blue that reminded Sakura of the lakes that froze over in the winter. The woman turned to stare across the road and their eyes met. Sakura felt a chill run down her spine, snapping and biting all the way down.

The woman's hair was dripping wet.

"Kiba-" Sakura didn't have time to finish her sentence as the woman sprang forward with the speed of a wraith. It was all Sakura could do to summon a saber to block the attack before she was thrown back into a store's shop front. She tumbled over a display of nuts and rolled onto her heels before standing and bracing again.

The white woman tore at the body of a boy and sent him flying into a window of glass he didn't rise from. A man raced forward to stop her, shouting and reaching for her arms as if she were a simple woman wild with anger, but she threw him like a twig into the crowd where other men caught him.

Sakura saw the white woman tear through another older woman in a flour stained apron before moving. The saber slid from its sheath cleanly and swung out just as fast.

"Dreamer," the wet woman hissed, her shock blue eyes glowing neon, "I devour."

Sakura caught the claw attack and kicked the woman back when she tried swiping with her free hand. Kiba screamed in the distance, but Sakura paid it no mind as she twisted her sword about to free it from the clawed hand. She breathed out in time with a lunge that landed in the woman's chest, but it was stuck between two lungs and hadn't hit anything vital. The woman grinned madly, pulling on the sword and then grabbing at Sakura's wrist to fling her back into the same shop as before. This time, the tables she knocked over were too broken to diminish her impact. Sakura landed in a mess and cried out in pain. The world swam for a moment as darkness ate at the corner of her eyesight.

Seven swans, a golden ball dropped into a lake, A diamond encrusted egg opening to reveal a world spinning in darkness. A bird on fire shot out from the barrel of an ivory bone musket and blazed to death in the darkness.

Sakura gasped and the visions swam back, pushing into the recesses of her mind.

The woman was still in the street, but she hadn't moved. Another saber stuck out from her chest, but this one tore through her heart. Tears ran down her face like heavy rivers, and then she collapsed onto the cobblestone. Sakura blinked and the figures still standing came into focus. It was the boy from the orient, the one with moons for eyes and hair worthy of a thousand girl's envy. Neji, that was his name.

She tried sitting up, but it was too painful, so she slumped back into the pile of debris that had once been a table set with expensive china and treats for a ladies' tea. She could feel something like a shard of the porcelain buried in her back.

'Good thing I'm not going dancing with Karin tomorrow,' she thought to herself, dropping her head back and closing her eyes. It hurt less when she tried to breath even.

"Sakura!" Kiba was screaming as another woman wailed over the body of her dead son. The smell of blood was in the air.

Kiba came bounding in, a line of blood running across his face. Part of the cover up he used to hide his tattoos was smeared away. He dropped down beside her, dragging the rubble away from all around her before trying to lift her so that she could sit propped against his knee. She heard him curse.

"She didn't mark my face up did she?" Sakura asked with her eyes closed. Kiba chuckled bitterly and she could feel his fingers trailing down her back, looking for the blood soaked patches. 

"No, your face is fine."

"Not that it would have diminished your beauty in the slightest, I dare to say," a new voice interjected. Both Sakura and Kiba turned to see the Chinese boy standing in the opening to the shop. He carried her bloodied sword and discarded sheath together in one hand. "However, I've not yet been graced with an audience face to face. Your radiance has only attracted me from afar until now." He knelt down at her feet and placed her sword and scabbard beside her ankles, "Please, I must have your name."

"Are you insane," Kiba growled, his hackles rising with barely contained fury, "Can't you see she's bleeding out? Stop flirting for two seconds and make yourself useful enough to find a doctor or some bandages." Neji's eyes narrowed, and he turned his head slightly to glare at Kiba. 

"I know you. You're the wolf kid my cousin dotes on. What are you doing in the city? You were not permitted."

"Why, cause I'm subhuman?"

Sakura was surprised by the bitterness that ran like acid over the young boy's words. She didn't know Kiba could be so…cold.

"Enough," Sakura coughed, tasking the first sunburst of pain when her body squeezed her lungs. Something was for sure embedded in her back. "Aren't either of you more worried about who that was? She went wild in the middle of the street without provocation."

Sakura shifted her elbows under her to help her sit up and felt her shirt and coat stick a bit to the ground as blood stained her whole backside. Kiba cursed again and Neji was stiff.

She breathed deeply again and imagined her skin pushing out the broken bits enough to pull free and her skin knotting back up, of her blood flowing backwards and her wounds sealing closed. There was no change, of course, but she could better feel the pieces in her back after thinking about it. Discarding her coat, Sakura shrugged out of it and yelped a bit when a fragment got caught and pulled at her skin.

"Hold it," Kiba barked, reaching forward to disentangle the fabric from the shard, "You need a doctor. If you don't see one soon, you'll bleed out. It looks bad. Can you walk?"

Sakura didn't think the wound was as bad as Kiba made it sound, but she nodded and stood up, nearly crying out again with the pain that laced through her. She wanted to laugh and cry all at once it was so painful for a dream. Too painful for a dream.

"My family has a doctor. You should go to her. You will ride my horse."

"Yeah, no, that's okay and thanks, but it's not really that bad," Sakura grumbled, feeling the throb dull in contrast to her remembrance of Orochimaru's knife sticking out of her stomach. It would be hard to top that one. She had the bits of a teapot in her back, it wasn't that big a deal. "There should be someone back at the camp who can look at this."

"That does nothing for the blood you have already lost," Neji interjected, taking a step back so he was blocking her exit, "You'll be as cold as the stones before you make it out of the city on your own."

Sakura looked back at Kiba, who was still hanging onto her torn overcoat with the fur running down the collar. Around the rips in the fabric she could see dark stains where blood had been spilt. She didn't think she had lost enough to put her in danger, but this was a dream…what constituted death in the dream world? Could she really bleed herself dry and die long before she was emptied? Was it worth it to risk it?

"I can't leave my companion. We came here together and he's my guide," Sakura lamely replied, looking anywhere but at either of the two boys. It was a lame excuse that wouldn't hold up, but it needed to be said so that Neji wouldn't separate her from Kiba.

"Yeah," Kiba chimed in quickly, "She's staying with my tribe, we're responsible for her so I have to stay with Sakura no matter where you take her."

Outside a simple box carriage drew up even with the shop window and a young gentleman with eyes like Neji's hopped down, poised and ready to open the carriage for his master's guests. Similar carriages were being ushered in to pick up the emotionally traumatized richer individuals while the serfs washed the streets clean of blood.

"Then you will come?" Neji asked hesitantly, eyeing Kiba only briefly.

Kiba took a step closer to Sakura, and if he wanted to he could reach out and touch her, but he didn't, though she could feel he wanted to. He was ready to step in front of her if she asked him to. He was ready to fight for her if she felt like it, too.

"We'll come, but only to see your doctor. I wouldn't dream of taking advantage of your hospitality. I never gave you my name, but it's Sakura."

"I know the meaning of your name, I would say it's a suitable title." Neji smiled politely. Kiba looked quickly back and forth between the two, squinting. 

"What does it mean? Sakura?"

Neji waved his hand before Sakura could answer and ushered them out. Kiba whined about being ignored, but Neji didn't pay him any mind as he helped Sakura out onto the street. Instead of a horse, a simple carriage waited to transport them from the upper edge of the outer ring into the inner ring. Sakura climbed in first, followed by Neji and a scrambling Kiba. The driver was the one who closed the door on them and then jogged around to reign the horses back onto the cobblestone path.

It was bumpy and with every jostle, Sakura felt the shape of the shards in her back, and the bruises were starting to surface along her arms and legs. She poked at one atop her hand and winced when it pushed back. In the morning when she woke, she would have to wear some long sleeves if she didn't want to have to explain her markings. Enough people thought she was abused thanks to her escapades with the greasers last month. Karin worried that Sakura was hurting herself, and it was going to get harder to convince her otherwise.

Sakura looked up when she felt Kiba nudge her knees with his own. Glancing sideways she saw that his expression was partly muted in an effort to appear indifferent. "What does Sakura mean?" he asked.

"It's not a meaning, it's a thing. A Sakura is a tree that flowers in the spring time. I was born in the spring and my hair is the same color as the petals. At least that's what most people pick up on."

"Is the tree very beautiful?" Kiba asked. Sakura hummed, nodding her head and thinking back to the large, far reaching branches sagging under blooms of pink, white, and lighter shades of red in the rarest of cases. 

"I think so."

"I like it. If you ever see a Sakura tree you must show it to me." Sakura grinned at the idea of it. 

"If I see one in Russia, I'll let you know."

Across from them Neji covered over his snarky grin with the back of his hand, but the condescending huff was less easy to disguise. Kiba turned to glare, hiding nothing. 

"Something you want to share?"

"Not particularly. When we arrive, you'll have to lie and claim your clothing got damaged in the fire." Neji jerked his chin over at Kiba's jacket, "Those are petty things our servants wear to the parties we throw."

Sakura reached out to grab Kiba’s shoulder when he made a move to stand up in the tight carriage. Pulling him back down into his seat. 

"Shh," she whispered, hating how the world throbbed around her in and out of focus every time the box hit a bump and sent a jolt through her body, "We're inside the ring, look."

While a Russian city, the original design had been for a fortress meant to withstand siege and war, so there were no grand palaces with onion domes or spiraled towers, but there were brightly colored buildings with ornate details that showed a devotion to design. A garden had been built up around the main building, and Sakura noticed a small greenery pocketed around the side of a smaller building. There were many, and the inner ring was large, but it was nothing compared to the outer ring. There was too much open space and not enough people.

The carriage pulled up alongside the drive that ran in front of the smaller building, and Kiba was the first to step out. To the foot boy, he whispered instruction and the lad ran off. Turning, he offered Sakura his hand when she bent to climb down via the door. Neji pointed to the green path beside the house. 

"I've asked for the doctor to be summoned outside. This way we might avoid unwanted attention from the other residents."

"You just don't want us inside embarrassing you," Kiba complained, drawing up even with Sakura as she followed Neji down the path to a small curtained gazebo. Sakura saw a figure was already waiting inside.

"I don't care, Kiba. I just want these pieces out."

As she approached the figure became more clear. It was a young woman with short black hair and blacker eyes. Her skin was clear and her hands were freshly washed and held close to the chest to avoid touching the bodies that passed her by. A small belt of leather lay unrolled on a short table nearby and Sakura caught the glint of silver that told her there were surgical tools.

"Let me see the entry site," she said with a steady voice. Sakura stopped beside a long, bare table and turned to show off her back. The woman made a sound and then nodded to the two boys, "I will have to cut away the fabric, you two will wait outside, and you, the one with the blood on his face. Don't go far, I want to have a look at that cut before you leave."

Sakura thought it would be funny for her to look up and find Kiba missing. If that really did happen, it wouldn't be because Kiba left of his own free will. It would be a challenge to get him to vacate on his own, the dark haired woman didn't have anything to worry about him running away.

Once the two boys were gone, Sakura laid down face first on the table and let the doctor cut away the fabric on her back. A bit of the blood had dried and scabbed right over the fabric. When the doctor pulled it away Sakura felt the sting. Underneath the table, her hands were folded into fists that held her pain captive. It was a dream. She didn't have to feel it if she didn't want to, she told herself, even as the first shard was slid free. The flesh throbbed in a dangerous heat around the opening and it felt like losing a tooth. Sakura braced as a second and third shard were removed. On the third one, the dark haired doctor had to thread a hot needle and sew up the exit sight.

"The others will heal on their own," she said when Sakura turned her head to watch the thread and needle be put away, "I must work on the largest one now. Here, bite." Sakura bit down on a stick of wood laced thrust between her teeth. She could smell the alcohol and braced for the sting.

It came like a thief, robbing her of all that she stood on until she was falling into a pain so deep it drowned her. She was deep in the pain, choking on it. The world was gone, and all that remained was white. An ocean of white lilies not yet in bloom floated atop the waves of an ocean. The sun touched their petals and they began to curl open, letting loose their own illumination till it was too bright to see by.

Sakura awoke with a gasp.

The faded wood of her grandmother's ceiling took up the whole of her wide eyed sight. A moment later the other details of the room came into focus. She could see the lines and notches in the natural wood and count the grains if she wanted to. Taking a deep breath, she turned over in bed and sat up, wincing as she stretched her back.

Cursing, Sakura slipped a hand under her cami and felt for the sewed up lines of her injuries. Her bruises were easy enough to see, but with a bit of foundation expertly spaced she could take care of it. There were humble ridges that were tender to the touch, and lifting her shirt up, Sakura walked into the bathroom and checked to see how noticeable the marks were. From what she saw, it looked like she wouldn't be wearing anything backless for a while.

"No clubbing this week," she said out loud, dropping the edges of her sleeping tank and turning around to grab a brush for her teeth. Her breath wasn't bad, but she could taste the bile on her tongue from her nightmares and the pain of imaginary night terrors.

It was her free day, Saturdays were always the days she could sleep in a little more than the others and take everything slow. Grabbing her phone and plugging it in, Sakura rolled back into bed under the covers and pulled open a game and some social media sites to waste the morning on before her stomach forced her to go down for food.

There was a message from Ami about how bored she was, being with her parents the entire day, and Sakura responded by sending off a sympathetic note.

A handful of errands, an hour of studying, and two hours spent on seamstress work later, Sakura was ready to dress up and go. They were going to the Orchard, but not as club hoppers, so it would be appropriate to ditch the glitter heels and sequined tops that liked to hold hostage stray beams of light off the dance floor. No, when Karin and her hung out it was usually with a deck of Cards Against Humanity Cards or Taboo game set. They were games best suited to groups of three and up, but that was always part of the fun, finding friendly strangers to come join you.

Sakura packed her deck of CAH cards and began pulling articles of clothing from their hangers. It was a night time adventure, so dressing warmer wasn't a bad idea, but it was still only early September. She had to take into consideration what Karin wanted to go for and she knew her friend liked wearing less until November, because apparently there weren't enough warm days in New York like there should be.

In the end, Sakura rolled up the ends of a distressed pair of jeans that hung loose enough to give her breathing room while still being honest about her feminine curves. She paired it with brown point toe flats and an off the shoulder sweater with the word LOVE printed in pink floral letters across her chest.

She stared at herself in the mirror looking for the bruises and seeing none of the worst ones. Grateful, she hugged herself and smiled at her reflection, ignoring the way her damaged skin protested underneath her sweater.

Half an hour later, Sakura strolled into the old fashioned Italian pizzeria and sidestepped the tables meant for customers. Juugo and Suigetsu were making pizza, but Sui had his cap on and looked ready to make a delivery run. Flipping the bar back, Sakura let herself upstairs, waving to the two boys once they noticed her. Even though she didn't hear him, Sakura thought she heard Karin's dad in the back working on something.

Karin's music was loud, but not loud enough that she didn't hear Sakura knocking at the door. A minute later, without turning down the tunes, Karin answered her bedroom door and frowned. 

"I'm still not ready."

"You look fine," Sakura sighed, breezing past her friend to sit on the edge of the bed, "What do you still need to work on?"

Karin was wearing high waisted shorts, fishnets, and doc martins. Her long sleeve shirt was skin tight and plunged deep down her back, showing off her supple bones. Her fire engine red hair was teased and clipped off to the side with a skull and bones hair clip that was colored the same shade of pink as her nails.

Karin picked up two tubes of lipstick from her vanity and held them out for Sakura to see. They were both pink, but one was softer and the other was brighter. 

"Which one?" Karin asked, sounding like she didn't care either way. Sakura picked up the lighter pink shade and waved it, liking how it matched her skull clip and nails. 

"I like this one, Mind sharing? I forgot mine."

Karin didn't say anything, but she twisted the stiletto of pink up and grabbed Sakura's face before tracing Sakura's lips. Once she was done with Sakura, Karin finished the rest of her make up and looked herself over in the mirror one last time. Sakura leaned in so that both their faces fit on the glass. Karin's apathy broke for a moment when she saw their matching lips. It was enough to make her smile and laugh.

"Come on," she said, picking up her phone from the wall charger, "We're going to be late."

Sakura frowned, but followed her redhead friend out and down and then out again. Like Sakura had come up, Karin merely waved to the boys working and spared her absent father nothing but a backwards flick of the wrist before heading for the old station wagon outside. Sakura made a 'what the hell' sort of face at both Sui and Ju as she backed out. Both boys hiked their shoulders and gave her the universal sign of 'I don't understand women,' with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. Huffing, Sakura turned on her heel and followed Karin out.

Neither said anything much on the drive over. Sakura asked Karin what games she played at the Crown Arcade and Karin replied with the classic list of shooter, fighter, and racing games. Karin liked the more violent games and while Sakura enjoyed them fine enough, she really preferred the puzzle suited games like Pacman.

Sakura followed Karin in once they parked and followed her friend all the way up to the loft, where there were couches and low tables for board games. Sakura sat her purse down and reached for the deck of cards inside next to her purse, but stopped when she saw her friend's face. Karin was settled deep into the cushion of her recliner and Sakura recognized that stance.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked.

"What makes you think there is something wrong?" Sakura shook her head. 

"Your tone speaks for itself." Karin glared over at Sakura and Sakura met her glare with a 'take no shit' level stare until Karin bit her lip and looked away. 

"Fine. Get me some of that Smirnoff green apple and I'll talk."

Sakura got up from her seat with a smile, slipping her wallet out of her purse in one fluid motion before kicking Karin's knee good naturally. The redhead rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath before settling back down into the cushions of her seat.

Sakura yawned and rubbed her left eye with the heel of her hand, feeling tired even after a lazy day of doing little of anything. She approached the bar and scanned it for non alcoholic drinks, maybe a tea like last time would help keep her up. One of the boys behind the bar spotted her and quickly paced over to take her order. Sakura smiled when she recognized the bartender. 

"You're back," he said, nodding at her pink hair, "Drinks for you and your friends?" She held up one finger. 

"Friend, just the one. She said she would like a green apple Smirnoff and I'm thinking I'll go for a tea…just something to keep me awake."

"Any particular tea you had in mind?" Sakura shrugged. 

"Earl Gray?"

"We have a lighter Lady Earl Gray that might be better, unless you want to spend the entire night awake. Our Lady tea is pretty good. Where are you guys sitting?"

Sakura pointed up to the corner of the loft where Karin was sunk deep into cushions of her couch seat. Yamato smiled and nodded, making a mental note.

"I'll ring you up down here and then bring the drinks up to you both."

He moved behind a digital register that looked like an oversized i-pad with steps and options he flew through with expert fingers. He asked for ID, Sakura showed him her driver's license and then handed off her credit card for him to swipe through the machine. While they waited for it to clear and spit out a short receipt, he glanced up through his bangs.

"So, how are your classes going?" Sakura took her card back just as the register beeped. 

"I never told you I was in college."

"So you are in college. I suspected as much. What are you studying?"

Sakura reached over and ripped the freshly printed receipt free and folded it between her fingers with a sly smile. "Drugs," was all she said before heading back to her seat.

Karin's mood hadn't improved since Sakura had left. If anything, the time Karin had to herself had given her the opportunity to stew in her sour thoughts.

"Okay, that's enough. Is it something I did? I know you think or that you felt at one point that I wasn't making enough of an effort to hang out with you, but this isn't like you to simmer so long without trying to kill or brutally maim me or someone else. Frankly, you're starting to scare me." Karin ran her hands through her hair, nails dragging down her scalp. 

"Sakura…."

"You think I wouldn't notice, or that I wouldn't call you out on it? Sui might be too scared and Ju might be too nice or too dense to say something about it, but you're just a ripe peach. Who do you have it out for?"

"No one. God, you sound like my priest! Just chill." Karin's voice was low and gravelly. The way it got when she cried hard and didn't recover. 

But Sakura didn't sit down, she stood her ground and didn't move an inch. Mumford and Sons played in the background, fading out to something by the Killers for the patrons downstairs. Sakura heard the music and the voices and the noises but she didn't blink.

A minute passed and then another. Karin glanced up, glaring at Sakura, and Sakura stared back, watching as dampness crept into her friend's tired eyes. They were already starting to turn red.

"Sakura,  **_he_ ** came back."

######  _ "Give me that dark moment I will carry it everywhere like a mouthful of rain." _

######  _ — Mary Oliver, Blue Pastures _

Sakura awoke angry. Fierce hatred burned through her thoughts and circulated throughout her body, warming her from within with flush hate. Her anger made the chill sitting at the end of her bed all the more noticeable.

"Are you angry at me?" Sakura looked up and narrowed her already slit eyes at the pale haired boy sitting at the edge of her bed. 

"Hope and pray to whatever it is you worship I never feel this way about you." She pushed herself up in bed and scooted back. "Are you here to make trouble again, or check in on the handy work of your white woman?"

Kimimaro sat at the end of her bed, one leg dangling off and the other folded under his knee. His face was pale and almost as expressionless as Sai's. He turned his head a bit to the side to study her better. 

"Maybe a bit of both. Who is your anger for?"

"Not you, not anyone you would know anyway. If I am lucky it will abate in time. There is nothing I can do about it here anyway." Sakura paused to look around and take in her surroundings, "Where is 'here' exactly?"

"The woman doctor and another servant took you to this room to rest when you fainted from the surgery. You have been sleeping ever since, and for this world, that means more than one day. There was poison in her blood, poison from the white snakes. Sadly, you have a tolerance for poison." He held up a stack of papers Sakura recognized as her passport and transport papers. One of them came unfolded in his hand and Sakura saw a symbol on the corner of a cross shaped staff with a snake draped around it. "You are a person of medical knowledge in the waking world, I take it."

"Does that make you sad?" Sakura growled, still feeling the hot tickling of anger simmer in her gut. "Is that why you came here yourself, to finish me off with your own two hands?"

Kimimaro moved his hand, and from his wrist grew a white slender sword of bone. It glistened in parts like an icicle would. Sakura tensed, ready to imagine a knife or short sword she could bury into his face. The boy with frost in his veins regarded her again from a different angle, and then dropped his sword, letting it fade back to frost on her bedsheets.

"If I wished to take up arms against you, I would have by now. You came into this world so full of anger. Why are you angry?" Sakura felt irritated by his words. It was too much to hold in, the spiteful words tumbled from her lips like they were too hot to hold in her mouth. 

"Shove it. Don't think I won't kill you the way you are now. What the hell does it matter to you if I'm angry or not? It has nothing to do with you, absolutely nothing!" Something in the way she spoke must have been off putting, since the boy with white hair leaned back, away from her and clenched his fist in her bed sheets, as if startled. 

"I didn't mean to unjustly….antagonize you," he spoke with measured words. "My women will not attack again until I tell them to. It seems I have rushed things along more so than was necessary. Your own narrative is of greater importance."

He stood up to leave, bowing once and then turning and heading for the door. Sakura felt a pop of anger dying out and the cold from where he once sat reached her. Growling at the conflict inside her, Sakura made a fist of her hands. 

"Wait!" Kimimaro stopped walking, but he didn't turn around to ace her. Still, she knew he was listening, "What did you want? You're my enemy, aren't you? You work for the snake."

"Yes, I do, but I don't remember the last time I saw eyes like yours." He turned around enough so that he could see her over his shoulder. Sakura felt the skin down her arm and on the back of her neck prickle, every strand of hair stood on end. "I will wait before killing you, and see if I can find what it is that has captivated the Sigh of Dejection to such a degree. His presence in this gate, your eyes, this era…it is all too much to rush. I will take my time in killing you. Until then…" He began to turn white like a diamond, "Find yourself a princess."

He breathed out a breath as large as his body, and evaporated into snow shards. Crystallized flakes of white floated on the wind before evaporating and leaving Sakura alone with her thoughts and anticipations.

For all she knew, his words could have been nothing more than an attempt to lower her guard in preparation of the next attack he had in mind. Or… he could have been telling the truth. Sai had mentioned before that the curse was different because of Sakura's exposure and the modern era. Did figments of a curse feel age and longing the same way a person would?

A noise from outside broke Sakura free from her thoughts. She cursed under her breath, feeling her intuition kick in and warn her that there was something outside worth investigating. She slid free of the bed and padded on bare toes across the cold morning floor. She was dressed in a white cotton gown that hung loosely around her body, leaving her wounds room to breath. She didn't bother looking for a robe as she stepped out into the hallway where light from the windows showed off her outline underneath her gown.

At first she saw nothing, but then she turned to the right and saw down the hall a collection of dead bodies. A single figure stood hunched above them all with a bundle under his arm. The bundle kicked and Sakura realized right away that the object was a young girl, no older than Sakura.

The man dressed in blood not his own turned and started heading down the hallway. A lone guard struggled to stand and greet him with his last bit of strength, but the assassin dropped a knife into the dying man's face, piercing the brain and rendering the poor guard dead.

"No," the young woman cried with a whimper as soft as a dove's.

Sakura stepped out into the hall so that she became visible and the intruder stiffened, but didn't falter. He took one look up and down her figure and made a smirk of his lips. He was older than Sakura by maybe a decade, and had sun leathered skin and creases to show for it. He looked healthy and strong, though. Experience showed in each of his steps.

"Oi," Sakura called out, imagining a knife behind her wrist.

The man raised a hand, his knuckles laced with silver throwing stars, and Sakura pivoted, harnessing the momentum to hurtle her knife at the man's face. It was enough to force him to dodge and enough for Sakura to all but close the distance. He nicked the corner of her ear, but missed enough that only a small cut opened up on the side of her face.

Her wounds strained and protested at each movement, but Sakura lowered herself into a spin that landed her elbow in his gut. It was enough for him to drop the girl, but not enough to knock him over. He caught her elbow and threw her back. Sakura didn't stop to feel the pain she knew was racing through her veins like angry vinegar. It was bitter through and through, but she didn't pay her wounds any mind. Her mind was entirely devoted to the nightmare in front of her.

In her imagination a curved blade fit in her hand like an extension of her arm. It was harder to move and less familiar than a knife, which was something Sakura was used to wielding, but the sudden appearance was enough to catch the assassin off guard.

Sakura got lucky. That's all it was. Luck was abundant enough for her arm to be long enough and his body to be close enough. There was a sick, wet, sound as her sword tore his stomach open. He was stunned at the lethal blow and Sakura didn't hesitate to finish him off with another to the neck. Blood sprayed and suddenly Sakura's clean white nightgown was cotton soaked with red. He fell limp at her feet, and the blood pooled out into the grooves between the marble tiles.

"Ow," she whispered to herself, remembering her newly opened wounds. Holding herself around the stomach, Sakura sank to her knees and tipped over to lie propped up against the wall. She had been stupid to engage like that. Next time she was imagining a gun.

The girl climbed up from her spot on the floor and looked across to see the dead body and gasped. She had been dropped and was only now just waking up again.

"Did you do this?" she asked, looking from the body to Sakura.

"My apologies for the mess," Sakura mumbled with her eyes closed. She breathed heavy against the wall and felt the sweat collect around the crown of her head. "It wasn't… my intention to be so…. violent so early in the morning. And you are?" The girl blinked in surprise. 

"Wait, you don't know me? How can that be? You are in my house and everyone here knows my clan."

Sakura recognized the girl, she was the one who was sneaking into the city in fine velvet two nights ago. She also had the same pale, moon colored eyes as Neji. Sakura knew enough to be able to add two and two together.

"I'm Sakura, by the way. It's Hinata, right?" Sakura coughed, wincing as the force racked her body. Her cough turned into a laugh as she tried to play it off and not worry the heiress. "Tell me I'm right."

The shy girl nodded, seemingly mute. Sakura grimaced, but forced a smile. Huffing once, she pushed off the wall and staggered over to the girl, lightly grabbing at the white silk collar of her dress. Hinata rose without protest. Sakura jerked her chin back at her room and the two of them stumbled in. Sakura closed and locked the door as best she could without an actual key or lock. A simple chain in front of the door was all they could rely on.

"What now?" Hinata asked.

Sakura glanced around the room and saw the antique medicine cabinet against the far wall, around the second bed made up and empty. She reached up to touch the wound on her ear and felt a jolt when her fingers made contact with her own blood. There were vipers in her blood. 'Poisson,' she thought to herself, remembering her last fight in the past kingdom.

Not knowing what else to do, Sakura hobbled over to the medicine cabinet and opened the glass door. Her deft fingers flickered over the caps of glass bottled, pulling out a few to sniff and replace. With each smell she saw the source of the drug, she saw herbs and roots and wet things that were dried out for the sake of medicine. There was even a jar with rabbit foot inside it.

Her fingers stopped over a leather pouch. Pulling it out, she opened it and looked inside. There were unmixed leaves on a step dotted with bloated berries. Sakura touched the berries and saw a plant drying up and withering away until it was dust. These would be her cure. The berries and the leaves.

"What are you doing?" Hinata asked, sounding curious.

"Don't worry, I'm a doctor…of sorts," Sakura answered, thinking back to her pharmacy training, "I think I know what I'm doing." She popped the berries, one after another, not knowing how many it would take. They were bitter and she wanted to spit them out, but she choked them down, tearing off a leaf with her teeth to suck on until the bitterness passed.

"You're a doctor?" Hinata's eyes were still wide, "But you fought so well. He killed my entire company on his own. I've never heard of a doctor being able to do something like that." Sakura hummed, backing up to lean against the bed, feeling less dizzy than before but a little numb to the pain in her back. 

"And I've been unaccustomed to heiresses sneaking off into the wilds beyond her gates. I saw you come back into the city two days ago. Was it to see Kiba?" Sakura closed her eyes, not minding to see the young girl's reaction. It was easy enough to read just from the sound of her little gasp and the stutter that followed. 

"H-how did you kn-know that?"

"I camp with the wolf tribe, and Kiba's told me of you plenty enough." Sakura opened her eyes to look at Hinata as they spoke. The young girl had neat black hair braided down her back, but after the scuffle, loose strands hung freely around her face in a messy state. "How did the two of you meet?" Hinata looked down at her hands shyly. 

"Before my father was head of the clan, my uncle was in line to succeed. I was not so closely guarded. But when my uncle died, my father became the head and I inherited the position as heir. I….K-kiba was…he left, but when he came back, his family were not allowed inside the gates again. Still, he was my best friend."

Sakura nodded, feeling like a third party the more and more she shipped the Kiba/Hinata coupling. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of scratching at her door. She jumped up and readied herself in front of Hinata, legs bent and arm extended with a slender knife in hand. A moment later there were voices and then a shove at the door. Another shove and the chair gave way and palace guards fell inwards.

"Hinata!" A loud voice bellowed.

Sakura relaxed once she saw Neji, but then from behind Neji bounded a large white dog with his tongue hanging and wet. Sakura caught Hungry as he crashed into her arms, larger than the last time she saw him. He wouldn't fit in her shirt anymore, but she could still pick him up if she tried. He reached up on his back legs and Sakura hugged him close to her chest, muffling something happy sounding when he tried to lick her face clean off.

"You're safe," she heard Neji say to Hinata as she trotted over to join him and the guards around him. "He didn't cut you, did he? They were all using poison on their blades."

"No," Hinata shook her head, blushing lightly. "Sakura kept me safe, but she was injured in defending me."

The many eyes of the room looked over at said girl and suddenly Sakura felt self conscious about being dressed in blood and a nightgown. Her teeth were probably red too from the berries. She sucked on them real quick. Neji's eyes narrowed in on something on her face.

"You were cut."

She reached up to touch the cut along her earlobe. It was still bleeding, but had mostly clotted. It wasn't deep. Wordless Sakura held up the pouch of herbs in her hand and then nodded to the medical cabinet. 

"Sorry, I borrowed some," she spoke in a light voice, trying to keep her stained teeth hidden.

"A medic," one whispered, eyeing her carefully.

Sakura felt like avoiding eye contact and when she glanced away, she thought she caught sight of Sai's figure retreating down the hallway. Although, to be fair, it could have been anyone in a Russian imperial uniform.

A few more of the guards filed out, but most lingered around the doorway, waiting for Hinata to walk with them back to her room. She fussed quietly when Neji tried to turn her face and look her over for marks, but other than that she was as quiet as a ghost.

Hinata paused just before crossing the threshold and turned, looking back at where Sakura knelt with Hungry in her arms. Sakura recognized the look on the young woman's face. There was something she wanted to say, but before she could find the courage to form the words, she was encouraged out the door by Neji and another guard with the same moon like eyes. Neji remained behind. Once the others were gone he turned back. 

"I apologize for your treatment here. We meant to take care of you and yet we allowed rabbits under our doors." Sakura narrowed her eyes. 

"Rabbits?"

"They are a clan of assassins, quick and silent. They have contracted out their services in the past for kidnapping attempts, but until today they were mostly all handled at the source."

Sakura remembered the beginning of the dream, when she first entered the gate after the Kingdom of Man. Sai asked her to choose a totem to represent her in the dream world and a rabbit or a hare had been one of the options she ended up not choosing. Sai never said about them not being options as enemies later on. It only made sense. It wasn't right for things to be too easy.

"Mostly?" She hadn't missed his particular wording. Neji looked up at her eyes without wavering or blinking. 

"My father, the former patriarch, but that was many years ago and the scum was put out of his misery soon enough."

Sakura felt shamed into movement, breaking off eye contact and looking down at Hungry who was still woven in between her legs and leaning like he wanted attention. Neji followed her gaze and blinked at the tamed wolf that was no longer a pup.

"You have a dog, but you are not of the dogs. That boy, Kiba, he is different than you. He was raised into that world, but you're not like him." Neji raised his face upwards a millimeter, staring down his nose at her, reserved but calculating, "You're educated. Your hands are bloody but soft. How did you become part of that crowd?" She reached down and scratched a patch behind Hungry's ear and the dog nearly tilted over in an effort to get the most out of his scratches. 

"I'm a…type of doctor. I just deal with the medicine and drugs. But Kiba's clan took me in when they found me traveling the same road with one of their dogs. His mother and pack had been killed and left to rot when I pulled him from the litter. He's been mine ever since."

"They didn't try to take the pup away?" Sakura grinned. 

"I'm sure they would have tried if they thought it was possible, but Hungry is mine." As if in reply, Hungry whined loudly to complain about the lack of scratching he was getting behind his ears. Sakura raked her nails down and Hungry leaned into the touch. Bending down was starting to be painful as the drugs bottomed out and settled in her system.

With her free hand, she reached around her stomach and held herself, feeling like she might be sick soon considering she was on empty and medicine almost always went down better with food.

"I should get going. Kiba's not here so he's probably worrying until he's no good to anyone until I make it back. I've imposed upon you for too long as it is." Sakura made a move towards the door and Neji flinched, looking offended. 

"But you're not healed. Aren't you planning on staying another day?"

Sakura didn't respond right away, but moved to the end of the bed where a table of wood held some clothes she could borrow in place of the ones they cut away. She could always dream up some new outfit, but she would have to wait until no one was looking. Neji shifted the weight of his body from one foot to the other, not looking like he was intending to move. Sakura swiveled her eyes to the side and then glared.

"You have to watch me change?" To his credit, he didn't blush or stutter the way she thought Kiba would. 

"You do know the clan has been moved. After reconsidering the situation, the wolf clan has been reassigned a larger plot for them and their animals. You will need someone to guide you there. Especially now considering we had two break ins today."

Sakura thought of Sai in the hallways, and doubted she would be able to meet him again if Neji was with her. She slipped a hand under the fabric of her robe, checking to see what was left under it. She felt the subtle scars through her skin, the ones from her greaser adventures in the Kingdom of Man. When she was waking they were absent from her skin after a day or two, but in the dreams, she carried her scars.

Neji coughed and Sakura turned to look back and see he was still standing there. This time, he was looking anywhere but at her. Sakura waited for him to speak up, and when he did, his eyes wouldn't meet hers. 

"I'll wait outside, but…we can't let you leave without an escort." Recognition hit her and showed in her eyes. 

"Ah."

It was less about making sure she found the right place and more about keeping an eye on the outsider they let inside. If she thought about it, the situation was a bit suspicious. They conveniently take in a stranger for treatment, and the next day there's an assassination attack utilizing poison she just happens to be able to combat. Even her saving of Hinata was suspicious. The young girl seemed gullible and easily manipulated. If she was Neji, she would be suspicious too.

She heard the door close and turned to see she was truly alone apart from Hungry who waited in the middle of the room resting on his back legs. He looked at her with a little tilt of his head, but didn't seem anxious.

Sighing, she pulled apart her robe and let the silk pool around her ankles, leaving her in her bandages and scars. Ignoring the fabric left for her, Sakura arched her back and closed her eyes, weaving an outfit of black that fit her frame well enough to show the world she was a woman. Over her outer layers she wove a Kafka of black and gold with long sleeves embellished with coiled detail. When she opened her eyes again, she saw her figure in the mirror barely resembling the girl dressed in blood from before. She looked back at the bed and saw a hat and muffler made of rabbit fur that would easily separate her from the lesser dressed citizens in the outer ring. She left them there, preferring to let her hair frame her face unhindered.

Hungry bumped the back of her leg and she reached down to grab his ears, scratching rough enough to make him happy. He leaned into her and whined a happy sort of sound. At least he was pleased to see her.

"Ready to go?" she whispered, pulling her hand away and heading towards the door. When she opened it, Neji was there waiting against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked up right away and didn't look away until she met his eyes.

"You don't need more time to rest?" he asked, sounding hesitant. She watched his eyes scan over her body, imagining the wounds she had covered.

"I probably do, but I doubt I will find rest here." She looked down the hall where there was still blood staining the grooves between tiles, "I should go."

She moved in front of her and he caught her by the elbow. In response, she turned on her heel, ready to pull away but his grip wasn't harsh. He was staring at the design over her breast where a gold snake was coiled around the arms of a staff. She hadn't noticed it at first, but it was woven into the detail and would be missed unless you knew to look for it or recognized the sign.

"It's mine. I didn't think it prudent to borrow your clothes as well."

He let her go and she stepped away, outside of his reach. He nodded his head in apology and then turned to guide her out of the oriental palace among a city of onion domed palaces. Neither had to spare the guard anything more than a nod when exiting, but Sakura knew that to get back in there would have to be paperwork and an air of entitlement drawn close like a robe. If she had to get back into the inner city, it would be a challenge.

Fortunately, there was no sign of the black tower anywhere she turned. What was up with that? Wasn't the Gate supposed to be easier to exit than the Kingdom? It had taken her one night to get through the Marble Gardens. Of course it was going to get harder, but this seemed a bit unreasonable.

The closed cover carriage took them from doorstep to gateway quickly enough. In what seemed like a matter of minutes, they were stopped and pulling up alongside the gate leading out. Neji climbed down first and looked like he was waiting for her to follow him to the campsite, but Sakura climbed down on her own. Hungry jumped out after her, and Sakura didn't miss the frown on Neji's lips, or the way he fisted his rejected hand alongside the side of his trousers.

"I think Hungry can lead me the rest of the way from here. You should get back to the main house," Sakura said with a measured smile.

He might have had something more to say, but Sakura had the excuse of keeping up with Hungry, who trotted out ahead of her at at happy pace, didn't bother looking back over her shoulder to see if he followed her with his eyes or if he packed up and left without a flicker of suspicious.

Sakura didn't think, she was outside the city and it suddenly became painfully apparent how different of a world she was in when there were trees in place of buildings and grass patches where cobblestone should be.

Neji was right, the patch where Kiba and his family camped at was a good deal larger, but it was closer to the edge of the woods and practically as far away from the gate as could be. It struck Sakura as dangerous, but as she expected, no one from Kiba's tribe seemed willing to complain over something like that.

Sakura took her time walking to and then through the campsite, watching as the larger yurts were pitched and family members lined the walls with skins and furs for extra protection. The cold winds were growing longer and harsher with every day.

She stopped when she saw Kiba laying with his hands folded behind his head on the ground. Akamaru, his horse sized dog, lay curled around him sleeping just as lightly while the rest of his tribe worked.

Sakura stopped with her toes not quite touching the top of his head. Bending down, she lowered her face enough so that it would be the only thing he saw once he woke up.

Grinning mischievously, Sakura lightly tapped with her toe and waited.

A day passed, and then two. Sakura didn't, not once, touch her phone when she thought of Karin. The messages sat in her inbox, unread, while she grappled with her anger.

Another day passed and the messages stopped. Sakura read them all and wrestled with her anger again, this time, in a new way. Her anger was for herself and not for Karin.

More days passed.

Hungry was large. If she didn't know better, she would say his size rivaled that of a Great Dane's in just a few days. Every time she took her eyes off of him he seemed to grow bigger and bigger. Soon he would be large enough to ride the way Kiba rode Akamaru.

Thinking of Kiba, Sakura turned to look over her shoulder and see that she was truly alone in the woods. Kiba seemed like a clingy person by nature when he wanted to be. Today she had given him the slip in hopes of drawing out either Sai or the white haired Kimimaro boy from before.

It had been so long since she last saw anything that could be considered interesting or noteworthy. After coming back to the camp, Kiba had scarcely left her side and made sure he stayed with her when they went out to hunt birds and other small game that wouldn't be missed.

The woods were called The Monarch Woods, because they and everything in them belong to his sovereignty the Czar, king of this country. Hunting for personal gain or business was strictly forbidden and punishable under the stipulations of the law as they stood. If one were caught hunting, they would have to share his game with everyone other than himself, because that was fair. It wasn't fair when there ended up not being enough to go around and the hunter ended up in jail for his crimes, but that was the way this world worked.

No one from Neji's family had come to see her, and Kiba never mentioned meeting Hinata again, not that Sakura thought he could since he was always stuck to her side. They had a scuffle with another clan that was upset about their new neighbors last night, and Sakura doubted the next conflict wouldn't end with spiteful words the way this one had. The other plot residents took care to give the Wolf Tribe a wide breath in dealings. People like Neji and Hinata likely wouldn't want anything to do with her or Kiba for a while, if at all.

Feeling distracted, Sakura sat up and began to pace back to camp, wondering what she was supposed to be doing when no one came looking for her. Unless something happened, she didn't know what to do in the dream world. Where was her Obelisk?

She stopped when she saw the lanky figure of the Hyuga's doctor stumbling through the brush. Shizune, Sakura remembered hearing them call her.

"Oh," the dark haired woman exclaimed, seeing Sakura standing in her way, "My dear, you startled me. I didn't see you there." She frowned, her eyes trailing over Sakura's body, looking for signs of the wounds.

"No, I suppose it would be an odd place to run into someone. What are you doing out here? Hopefully not to check up on me." Behind her, Sakura felt Hungry pace close to the back of her legs. Shizuna didn't seem concerned with the large wolf.

"I'm coming out to examine the remains." Sakura blinked, taken aback. 

"Excuse me?" She dumbly asked. Remains? What did the woman mean when she said that?

"A body was reported by someone living along the outer wall. I'm to examine it and determine if there is an obvious cause of death, since this has been the third body reported since the cold winds started blowing."

"Since Autumn started," Sakura whispered to herself, mentally calculating the time. It was around three weeks since? That meant one body every week. Smelling opportunity when it was present, Sakura drew herself up. 

"Do you mind if I go with you, Shizune? I want to see the body as well if it is something that happened so close to where I live."

The woman seemed to consider it for a moment, and Sakura took the opportunity to look the lady doctor over. She was dressed in a fur lined Kafka, not unlike the one Sakura still dawned since her exit from the medic bay, but it was loose enough that it would be easy to move around in. And in addition to the Kafka, over her shoulder the lady doctor sported a polished rifle for protection. Shizune reached up to finger the strap. 

"Very well. Come if you like, but please don't hinder my efforts."

Sakura nodded wordlessly and fell into step behind the older woman, keeping her lips pressed closed as they ventured deeper and deeper into the woods. Ten minutes later, Hungry went tense behind her, and a little while later she noticed why. There was a natural alcove where rain water had pooled and dried over time, making an overpass out of dirt and rock. At the base, hidden in the shade, lay a young girl shredded to pieces. Shizune turned sharply to look away and see if Sakura was sick, but the younger girl only winced, not sickened enough to look away. It was a scene from her own imagination, after all. And besides, she'd seen worse in some movies.

"You're going to examine it, right?" Sakura asked in a calm tone.

Mutely nodding, Shizuna stepped down and crept closer, sliding her gun off her shoulder. It looked like it took more effort for the older medic to poke at the pieces of the body with a gloved finger. Maybe it was hard to look at, but Sakura was more interested in hearing what had made it. The dark haired doctor stood up and turned on her heel, walking away quickly. She stopped by a tree to catch her breath. 

"This was recent."

"Yeah, the body's decomposition isn't that advanced, but there's rigor mortis by the look of things from here." Sakura's mind hummed with information and words from both school and CSI TV shows, "She was torn up after death. It looks like an animal's work."

"But….she wasn't eaten," Shizuna attempted to compose herself, "There aren't any signs of an animal attacking her for…food. She's still all here…in pieces….but still all here."

"Then it's possible you're dealing with something frightened or sick. Animals can kill for less." Sakura coaxed her head to the side and studied the position of the body and the earth around it. It had been moved, or dragged more importantly, but the marks didn't look typical of a simple dragging, no, this poor girl was thrashed and waved about across the dirt floor. Something strong had to do it.

"We would appreciate it if you could keep this matter quiet," Shizune whispered, turning to approach the girl again, "We need to keep a panic from breaking out. Help me bury her." Sakura frowned. 

"What about her family? Wouldn't they like to know and say goodbye?"

"No, she isn't fit to be seen in such a state, especially by loved ones." The lady doctor picked up her rifle and turned it over so that she was digging at the ground with the barrel end. She paused to look up at Sakura again. "You will help me, won't you?"

Sakura didn't move for a while. Shizune could see the thoughts swirling about in a storm of conflict behind her tinted green eyes. Then, with a flick of her wrist she sent Hungry forward to do the digging for her. Her hand curled into a paw, she scratched the ground and her furry friend followed through. Once the hole was deep enough, the two women carried the victim in and began to throw dirt back on the body. They were patting it down when Sakura asked.

"A wolf did that, didn't it?" Shizune stiffened, but then continued patting down the dirt. 

"Most likely. Either a Bear or a Great Wolf, and neither is a welcomed presence here with the Tsarevich so close."

Sakura ended up walking Shizune to the gates, but then was invited in after the woman to the outer ring. It was just as busy, if not more so, as it was the first time Sakura remembered visiting. She thought Shizune would lead her to a carriage that would take them up to the palaces located inside the inner ring, but instead the dark haired woman kept walking and walking and walking until Sakura and Hungry came to a stop outside a shop with a snake draped over a staff was painted.

"A clinic," Sakura breathed, stepping in and seeing the makeshift hospital's interiors. A few cots were set up with shivering men and women. A boy slept as well, but Sakura guessed he was just as cold. "Is this your home, Shizune?"

"Sometimes, yes, but this is where they let me work," She pulled out a journal and turned to one of the newest pages, "Here, these are my notes on the last two attacks, both suspected of either a wolf or a bear." She handed the journal over and Sakura studied the sketches, not having the ability to decipher the writings. In a dream they meant nothing.

"What are you going to do about it?" Sakura asked. When Shizune didn't answer right away Sakura looked up. The dark haired doctor sighed deeply glancing towards her sick patients. 

"The authorities will be notified and your tribe will be contracted to hunt down the wolves doing this before winter. I'm telling you this now instead of later because if it gets out, there will be more than just your tiny tribe scurrying through the forest looking for an easy wolf kill." That wasn't what Sakura wanted to hear. 

"No, it's not just any wolf, you said it yourself that she wasn't eaten from. This wolf…or wolves, they… they're sick and mad. It might even be a form of rabies gone wrong. Killing any old wolf won't make you safer. The sick one needs to be found, though."

"Lady Hinata thinks so as well, which is why she had me investigate on my own," Shizune took the journal back and clasped it firmly, "There was no missing body today, Sakura. You never saw it, understand?" Heavy with the new information, Sakura nodded and stepped back. Shizune saw the posture and recognized it right away. 

"Go to them. Tell your tribe at least. They need to do something together about it."

"How long do we have?" Shizune looked towards the window and frowned. 

"Not much longer after the Tsarevich arrives. Two weeks is what you have."

When Sakura turned to leave she caught a flap of velvet blue out of the corner of her eye and turned to see the slender frame duck behind a doorway and into darkness.

Another day passed.

When Sakura woke up in the dream, she was wrapped in furs and laid across the ground on her side. She sat up a bit and noted the other bodies huddled close around her, as a stone pit for fire marked their center. Hungry was close, but the nearest body belonged to Kiba, who orbited around her like a crescent moon. Sakura saw that his eyes were open and that he was awake, but he didn't move.

She rolled over and scooted closer to him. When he didn't react, she poked his nose and then his cheek. He turned his face to the ground and hid it under his arm.

"You're pouting," Sakura huffed, not used to seeing Kiba in such a funk. "What's the matter?"

When he didn't move or try to answer Sakura poked his stomach and he twitched away, more shaken by that then her pokes to his face. 

"Hey!" he hissed in his efforts to wriggle away. Sakura just shot him a look and waited for him to reply. It was a strained sort of reply, but one that came more or less willingly. "I couldn't find you yesterday."

"I was in the city. I caught sight of Shizune and we got talking about medicine and stuff."

"I heard," he grumbled, burying his head back in his arms and rolling away.

"So why are you so moody?"

"No reason."

Sakura rolled her eyes, suspecting she wasn't going to get much more out of him. If he wanted to talk about it he could, but she wouldn't force him. God knows how much she hated it when people did that to her.

Rolling over, Sakura climbed to her feet and whistled to Hungry. An off white Scrimshaw rifle lay next to her things, and she draped it across her back before collecting up a few things. She bent to look through her sack for a few more items she thought she might need, and when she looked up, Kiba was already stalking towards her with his rifle over his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" she asked, frowning. The question seemed to upset Kiba. The look he gave was of thinly veiled irritation. 

"With you, of course."

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

Kiba just shook his head and wouldn't meet her eyes. She took that to mean he wasn't willing to argue his point, and that he was coming whether she liked it or not.

Sakura reached out to ruffle his hair a bit and he cried out in protest, swatting her hand away. Sakura laughed at his flushed cheeks and turned towards the forest, ready to look for the wolves who were mad enough to kill. A part of her was extra grateful Kiba was with her, since he was more skilled with tracking and all around useful on these sort of expeditions.

Together they set off and though Kiba never asked what she wanted or what she was doing, he caught on quickly enough to realize she was looking for something with a sort of purpose he never saw in her before. She finally had something she wanted to find instead of leisurely exploring the woods.

"Have you heard anything about the deaths close to the wall?" she asked after a while of travel in silence. She looked back when he didn't answer.

"Rumors."

"I think it was a wolf, but not the ordinary kind. I think this wolf was sick, mad with sickness." Kiba seemed to forget how he was mad at her for running off without him yesterday since he crouched down to meet her at eye level and spoke. 

"What kind of sickness could do something like that? And how do you know?"

"Experience and a basic understanding of medicine tell me it's possible. Have you never heard of a dog or animal going man and needing to be put down?"

Kiba shook his head.

"One thing it could be called is rabies, but I'm not a vet, so I don't know how it would work or how to undo it."

"Would you want to?" Kiba asked, causing her to look up. "It's already killed and tasted human blood. It will have to be put down, wolf or not."

The youth then turned to the woodlands around him with a renewed sight. When he began to trot away with Akamaru at his heels, Sakura and Hungry obediently followed, making sure to stay close behind. He whispered to them that he was heading for a den he saw signs of a few days ago. Soon they would be on the wolves' territories.

They trekked deeper and further and the brush became dense. The trees grew tall and wide around them, choking out fragments of the sky with a zealous greed, until the forest was more shadow than light. The canopy of leaves above their heads was without mercy when it came to the light. Sakura could see how many people could come to fear the woods when they looked like this. There were too many places for monsters to hide.

Hungry and Akamaru tensed behind her, and Sakura stopped to turn and see that they were grounded in place with their hackles up. Hungry looked like he was shivering or scared, but Akamaru had eyes ready for a fight.

"What the-" A hand over her mouth cut her words off. She turned with eyes wide to see Kiba press a finger to his lips before lowering his hand.

His voice was low and gruff. Gone was the jealous boy pouting for attention. Sakura almost didn't recognize Kiba when he spoke, his resolve hardened the child out of his features and solidified his masculinity. For a second Sakura almost lost her breath. There was something in his posture, in the air around him, that made her want to gravitate towards his side. When he spoke his voice was husky and low.

"We're on their territory." He inhaled. "It's all marked, I can smell it."

'Ew.' Sakura was thankful she couldn't smell that well.

The pair eased on a pace more and then something dark caught Sakura's eye. She bent down to brush away the dirt and see it better. It was a thin line of Onyx growing out of the earth in skinny lightning streaks before disappearing underground.

Onyx. Her Obelisk was made out of the same stuff. What if…

Akamaru snarled and lunged at a shadow. A gray brown wolf tumbled into the leaves and foliage and Hungry chased after them, nipping at their heels. Sakura caught her breath when she saw their size. They were modest ponies in size with thick haunches and thicker jaws.

Kiba slipped off his gun and took aim, before dropping it in favor of his knives when he couldn't get a clear shot. Sakura cried out, worried for him, but she didn't need to, since the wolf drew back away from Akamaru and Hungry. Hungry barked, having done nothing but growl, but didn't advance like Akamaru did until the new wolf took off. Kiba called out for him, but Akamaru gave chase, not willing to let his wounded prey get away.

Kiba jogged after his wolf pet, and Sakura tried to keep up, but something froze her in place. Left behind, she turned to see the figure of what could have been a draft horse. 'Seventeen hands, easy,' she thought. The wolf raised its snout and Sakura saw the foam and the patches of nakedness where sickness had made him bald.

It looked like rabies, but rabies would kill after the symptoms manifest three to five days later. How much longer did this animal have to live if it was suffering from something else?

The creature staggered at her and Sakura backed up, already knowing she was alone. Slowly she shifted her gun off her shoulder and rolled it onto her arm, ready to shoot. She couldn't level it properly without bringing it up, but she tried the best she could, pulling back and firing once it took another step. She saw when her bullet hit its shoulder, throwing a corner of its body back in recoil. But it didn't seem to feel any of the pain as it continued to stalk.

Sakura cursed her single shot rifle and dropped it in favor of her knives. Another gun wouldn't come to her mind, no matter how hard she tried to dream one up. It was always harder when she was stressed, but it looked like she couldn't call into existence devices or inventions that predated a certain time period. That sucked, because something semi automatic would have been nice.

Too close, the wolf sprang for her. It was the size of a horse with foaming fangs and mad white eyes. It was enough to freeze her to the spot, but Sakura managed to duck and roll away. Her idea to attack wasn't looking very plausible. Looking back she saw it run into a tree, fall and spray about in the dirt, trying to right itself. She flipped a dagger in mid air and then threw it at the beast. It sunk into its breast flesh with a sick smack, but the wolf didn't notice.

Sakura cursed again.

Angry and mad, it charged again in near blindness. Sakura screamed and ducked for cover, rolling away again. She threw a knife over her back, but this one went wide. She tried dreaming up more weapons to throw, but they wouldn't come to her hands. She had two left.

She screamed for Sai in her mind as she ran around a tree and slipped between the spaces between two. She was small, so she could go where it couldn't. She thought that was an advantage, but on top of being big, this wolf was mad and crazy strong, downing trees more ancient than her country in just a single swipe.

Forget horse, this thing was an elephant.

Then the worst possible thing happened. Sakura tripped, catching her ankle in a hole and pitching forward so that her foot twisted into the snake hole and stuck there. She screamed shrilly, trying to pull her leg free before the wolf rounded on her. Looking up she saw it turning around, looking for her. It saw her, and Sakura threw another dagger straight into his eye. It didn't sink far enough to hit brain, so it charged again, unfazed.

It seemed to run forever at her, and she should have been able to let loose her last knife at it, but her body stopped working, and nothing she did in her head would translate to her hands or legs. She screamed for Sai, and even for Sasori, not knowing how long she had left. There were tears on her face and she knew she wasn't in the Kingdom of Man anymore. This land was for beasts, and she was flesh and gristle on bone.

Screwing shut her eyes and praying she wouldn't be mutilated to death, she shut the world out and tried to wake. When she opened her eyes again, she was still in the dream. There was no Sai, no Sasori, and no salvation she could see at first. Her mad wolf was spinning and twirling after its own tail, and at first she thought it was distracted, but then she saw Kiba with his knife buried deep into its side. He rode the wolf like a wild stallion and his gun was thrown off in the process, landing a hair's breadth away from Sakura's furthest reach.

"Kiba!" she screamed, but her lips didn't move and no sound came from her mouth.

She couldn't move, she was petrified in place and that burned her with shame. She had crossed blades with monsters disguised as men and suffered the taste of their steel more than once. She wasn't this person that hid and froze in a fight.

It was a beast, but she was a killer.

Stretching, her body began to return to her and the gun was nearly hers, but she was pinned and couldn't reach it. She heard Kiba scream and her heart dropped. Wrenching her ankle out with a fistful of dirt and certain bruising, Sakura fell on his unfired gun and turned to aim. A Berdan single shot rifle was all she needed.

Kiba was thrown against a tree and bleeding from his chest, but the wolf looked worse. Even from across the clearing, Sakura could see the fire in Kiba's eyes shining and she knew he was a man, a warrior, a fighter. She whistled to the wolf and it turned its head. Sakura threw her last dagger into its neck and it rounded on her, swerving only slightly.

She breathed out and leveled the gun. It charged, and she breathed out again. It drew closer and she inhaled. Closer still, and she held her breath until she could smell its breath. She saw the veins of blood running through it's wide white eyes and exhaled with her trigger finger. Her lead landed right between its eyes, and the wolf reeled, no longer in madness as it crashed to the ground.

The forest around her held its breath as the rabid wolf struggled to exhale it's last. Sakura watched as it's ribs stretched against the skin, growing more defined, darker, deeper. The wolf held that breath high, lungs stretched as far as its ribs would allow, and then as her heart finally beat, those ribs came crashing down like the rafters of an imploded cathedral.

She heard a groan and she bolted up, running to his side as Kiba struggled against the base of the tree. Even before she collapsed at his feet, she knew something was wrong. He had landed at a weird angle he should have sat up from but sat still without moving. Sakura called his name and cursed when he wouldn't move. She slipped a hand under his head and pulled him away from the tree to rest his head on her lap. He was breathing, so that much was good news.

"Kiba," she sobbed, tasting her tears in the back of her throat before they spilled over from her eyes, "God!" He opened his eyes, blinking a few times. He saw her face hovering over his and smiled a toothy grin. 

"Hey," he exhaled.

"Where does it hurt?" Sakura asked, trying to stay calm. It was like watching Sasori fall all over again.

Kiba tried to move, and she saw the blood from his chest. She pulled apart his shirt, tearing it, and saw the bite wound. It was gushing and unforgiving and terribly infected.

"Is it bad?" Sakura forced a smile. 

"No, I'll patch it up." Kiba tried chuckling. 

"You're really pretty even when you're lying." His words sounded faint.

"I'm not letting you go," she said with solid determination, manifesting alongside her in the form of bandages and damp cloth for cleaning. She put one into his hand and placed it over the wounds.

"Pressure," was all she said. The blood didn't take long to stop flowing.

Wasting no time, she reached down to clean his wounds as best she could and found them to be more shallow than she first suspected. It didn't look like they had punctured anything vital, but she wasn't sure. Cleaning him again and again, she cleared the site of blood and foam from the wolf's mad mouth.

With a needle and thread, pretending his flesh was fabric, she knitted him back together, one wound after the other. There was one puncture for every fang, and it took too long for her liking. She didn't like how Kiba stayed awake either. He should have passed out by now. Also, he was warm, sweating and flushed all over.

"Sakura," he breathed with fluttering eyes, "So pretty." He tried reaching for her face with his bloody hand but couldn't. It fell down next to his side, limp. "The prettiest."

"Kiba, save your breath. You need to."

"But…have to know…the prettiest. My favorite." He wasn't making sense, but Sakura knew what he was trying to say. It made it all the more difficult to stay calm. "So...pretty."

His wounds weren't as bad as they looked at first, but he was in fever, and the madness was in his blood. When she saw it, bullet like capsules of a nasty virus swimming in his blood. She could see it, but she couldn't pull it away, she couldn't pull it out. How long until it killed him?

"Sakura, stay with me."

"I'm not going anywhere," Sakura huffed, trying to stitch the last bite wound up.

"Never." He closed his eyes and nodded a bit but stayed awake. "Can you brush my hair again, please."

Her fingers were dark and her palms were red. She didn't want to run them through his hair, but couldn't find it in his heart to tell him no. Wiping them on the side of her legs, she reached towards his crown and began to pet his hair back. His eyelids fluttered and his grin grew dreamy. She thought she heard him whispering under his breath things like, 'the prettiest' or 'forever' and 'with me,' but couldn't be sure.

Tasting bile, Sakura swallowed hard and looked up, stretching her throat like a pole. She could see up through the trees, that there was a bright moon and plenty of stars out. When did it become night?

She tried again to reach into his blood and pull out the virus but it wouldn't come loose. It had worked with Pein's brother Nagato at the end of her adventure in the Kingdom of Man. Why wasn't it working now?

Then there was the pull in the back of her mind. The end of her dream cycle was coming for her. Soon she would be waking up and Kiba would be left alone to God knows what.

"No!" she cried aloud, leaning over Kiba as if to shield him. Her eyes searched the trees frantically for Sai to come and slow down time or keep her grounded. She couldn't leave now. She didn't know what would happen to Kiba like this. Akamaru was here, but what if another wolf came or a pack? No one from his clan had found them yet, or even knew they were missing. She couldn't leave now.

She whispered prayers under her breath and dug her nails into the earth alongside her, trying to ground herself there. Her lips moved in reverent whispers, slipping in and out of the latin from her Catholic upbringing. Everything inside of her ached with this need. She couldn't watch someone die again. She couldn't do it. She couldn't say goodbye to someone like Sasori again.

Hearing the movement of footsteps on leaves, she looked up and caught her breath on a gasp. It wasn't Sai standing in front of her. The white haired boy shifted closer before kneeling down in front of her, staring at her face curiously.

"Your face is so damp," Kimimaro murmured in childish awe. He reached out to touch a drop and bring it to his lips. "Like the Rusalka, but not like the Rusalka. These are true tears….real tears."

"Please," Sakura felt the earth pounding in her head. "I can't leave him yet. He'll die."

"He's been dead for years. He isn't real," Kimimaro commented, lifting his chin. "Why are you crying." Sakura couldn't make it work in her head. He was right, but Kiba was still dying in her hands and it hurt her all over. She couldn't live through this again. 

"Please, save him."

"Why?"

"Because I can't."

The pale boy nodded, keeping his eyes fixed on her. For what seemed like the longest time, he watched her, studying her like an artist studies their work. He seemed to stare forever, but Sakura knew it wasn't long, because the pull didn't become any greater during that time.

Finally he reached out and grabbed her arm, folding it flat with its palm up. From his own wrist a slender pick of bone grew, hollow on the inside. He pulled it free and in his hand it became a syringe. Not bothering to say anything or explain himself, he slid it into her arm and drew her blood. Sakura saw her red life leaving her, and in it she saw all the sacrificed snakes on poles as vaccines and shots and tolerances built up over time. Kimimaro took this from her blood and shot it into Kiba's arm.

"You're helping him," Sakura breathed, feeling hope hurt her heart in a good way. She wanted to ask him why he would do something like that, why he would help her when he should be trying to kill her, but the words didn't come out. "Thank you," she said instead. He looked up at her and watched her eyes. 

"You're still crying."

"They're good tears now."

"Such a wonder," the boy mused. He waved his hand over Kiba and a wall of dirt rose up, shielding him. There were more leaves too, hiding it from detection. "He will be here when you come back. I can not extend your time." He reached out to touch her forehead. "You must go now."

* * *

_ "You were so near death that ghosts crowded around you, weeping silver tears, waiting for you with such smiles" _

_ — Cathrynne M. Valente _

* * *

Her waking came like a bang. She had been fighting it for so long, that when she finally gave in, it was like a rush of newly released water held back by a dam for so long.

Sakura sat up and breathed deeply, still shaken and damp with tears.

She passed through the day in a blur, in a haze.

When she got home again she didn't even wait for dinner, she went straight for bed.


	2. Monarch Woods 2

Monarch Woods (Part 2)

* * *

She awoke circled around his head, her own head bent down between his neck and shoulder while the rest of her body snaked around his skull and past his opposite shoulder. With her eyes fluttering open, she reached out and touched his skin. He was warm, but not with fever. No, there were pockets of warmth under his skin, but the rest of his was growing cold. She brushed the pads of her fingertips across his collarbone and he shivered at the touch. He was too cold. He had lost too much blood and was struggling to recover. He needed more blood.

Not bothering to care what blood type he was, Sakura set up a tube between her arm and his, knowing that she was a type O and universally transferable. The needle pinched, and she flinched more than he did, but as soon as the tube turned completely red she could see Kiba's breath level out. In addition to being blood he needed, she also had the vaccine he needed to beat the madness virus.

She could feel waves beating at the back of her skull as the blood left her body and reminded her how frail a human could be. Hoping to distract herself, Sakura looked around and grimaced at the sight not too far away. The husk of the mad wolf still lay where it died, but it had already begun to stink and look like something half rotten. As awful as it was to see, Sakura was grateful for it, since the smell was what likely kept the other wild wolves away. She hadn't forgotten that she and Kiba were still on wolf territory.

A rustle told her that Akamaru and Hungry were just off to the side. They had stayed close protecting them through the night. She couldn't help but smile knowing she hadn't left Kiba truly alone.

Not thinking she could stand if she lost any more blood, Sakura slid the tube out of her arm and folded a cloth over the puncture site on the inside of her elbow. She let the rest of her blood drain into Kiba before sliding his tube off and folding his arm in the same manner.

Next she resolved to get them moved. Sakura moved to stand, but the minute she got her feet under her and tried to lift her head up, the world tilted and she felt the weight of the ocean in the back of her head swirl angrily.

Cursing, she dropped back onto her butt and held her head. It was worse than a bad hangover. She had given blood once and the nurses had warned her not to stand up too quickly afterwards. Sakura hated it sometimes when the dreams made sense.

She reached up and unclipped the buckles of her heavy duty kaftan and shrugged it off, taking her time to do it. It had been torn in a few places and was dirty, but when she spread it out, it was large enough to lie on. Little by little, she tucked it under Kiba's body, until he rested on it like a blanket. By the end, that little task left her winded and dizzy. It was minutes later before she could move again.

She took the straps to both their guns and loosened them to make them as long as possible. She wanted to imagine up something new entirely, but her mind kicked and protested when she tried, so Sakura used what was left behind. Typing both straps together, she hooked them onto her coat and clipped the other end onto a strand of rope Sakura fitted around Akamaru's neck. The wolf bristled at the touch, but complied all the same, somehow knowing it was for Kiba.

"Take us home," Sakura whispered into the wolf's ears and let him go. Akamaru began to pull, dragging Kiba along with ease. Sakura stumbled and fell after them, too dizzy to keep up. Hungry whined and stopped beside her, so that she could crawl with him as a crutch, but even that made her want to retch. Pausing, she looked up to see if Akamaru was still in sight, but she saw no sign of the big white dog. She felt the bile itching upwards. 

"He wasn't supposed to leave me," she chuckled before leaning over and retching.

She was cold without her coat, and bruised as well. She wasn't supposed to have come back so weak. She wasn't supposed to feel so low after just a little bit of blood. It wasn't even real blood. It was her dream blood. Couldn't she just dream up some more plasma for her veins?

She slipped off of Hungry's back and flopped onto her side. They were likely closer to the city of Krepost, but they still had hours and hours, and even more hours to go. At this pace, it would take them days.

"Sai?"

She called out, but there was no answer. She felt her body spasm quietly. It echoed through her bones and rang dull. Sakura cursed at the feeling and reached up to grab onto Hungry. All she had was the fabric that clung to her and her boots. Pulling up her shirt, out of her pants, she tore at the bottom of it and freed a long strip to tie around her hands. It was long work, but when she was done her wrists were bound together tight enough to last. She laced her circle of arms over Hungry's head and then kissed the side of his face.

"Take me home," she whispered.

The world shrunk all around her until it was thin enough to roll up like a scroll and hide inside a decorated egg with diamonds and gold trim. There was a crest too, a crest with a two faced bird on it, and behind the crest people burned their stories until the fire and the smoke danced with the bodies of Baba Yaga and her chicken legged home, of the deathless one, of the firebird, or rivers. There were women weeping into the rivers and then melting into rivers again and again and again. A firebird cried out and burned the egg to a hardened stone.

She felt the world unroll like a scroll, with all the sounds returning first. There were words spoken all around her, manly tenors, the voices of guards and soldiers. It felt like only seconds, but when she forced her eyelids back, the sun was cloaked in an afternoon glow that set the rest of the forest on fire. Looking around, she was deposited on the side of a well worn road and nowhere she recognized.

She tried to move her head to see better, but there were still stars dancing across her vision, blurring the looming faces who peered intently. Waxed mustaches curled at the edges and short ginger beards came into focus first. The bodies around her were those of men, but they had the eyes of boys. They were young, but tried not to be.

She took in their appearance past their facial hair and saw the uniforms they wore. All were clean cut, crisp, and bright enough to be new or well preserved. In spite of her condition, she couldn't help but admire the smart looking buttons across their chest or the braiding on their shoulders. Russian Imperial soldiers in uniform…there were worse ways to wake up.

"Ah, the devushka is awake," one of the soldiers chuckled in a warm way. Sakura didn't know how she understood the foreign word for 'girl,' but somehow she had.

Another soldier murmured something, but there was an ocean in her head and the waves of discomfort rolled against her ears, drowning out the specifics of the words spoken. She took another breath and the waters receded, but she could still feel the weight and knew if she tried pushing herself she would go under once again.

"Who are you?" she managed, struggling to sit up.

One of the boys helped her gently into a sitting position, his hand flat against her back to keep her steady should she tip again or wobble to the side. Another deep breath.

"Hungry!" her eyes snapped open and she looked around her before spotting him tied to a tree not too far from where she sat. There was a bandage around one ear and he looked grumpy, if not still somehow perfectly healthy and safe. Hearing his name, he perked up and strained against his leash, whining.

One of the boy soldiers murmured something to his neighbor as a third left to untie the wolf. Hungry bounded across the clearing to her side and licked her fiercely, whining all the while, as if it were his fault she was on her butt in the dirt, feeling like a piece of shit.

"Good boy," she whispered into his fur, ignoring the murmuring voices around her. She recognized more Russian words. 'Wolf,' was the most common word spoken.

"You speak with the pup?" One boy asked her. She looked up over Hungry's back, through his fur with her dark hooded eyes, and that was all she needed to do for the boy to gulp nervously and look away, his question answered. Sakura buried her face in his fur and breathed out, relieved.

When she looked up she took in her surroundings. There was a carriage ornately decorated surrounded by horses, and further back was another couple of carriages that were pulled off to the side and emptied of passengers. There was a twin headed griffon on the door of the ornate carriage, and though it was large enough to fit six to seven bodies easily, Sakura suspected it was only meant for one or two luxury riders.

Ah yes, all the boys around her were in uniform. It made sense if they were traveling with the czar family. Thinking about it, Sakura was surprised they were letting her this close to the carriage, even if it was empty. She must look like a mess. Wouldn't it have been suspicious for her to turn up and just so happen to cross their path on the day they're traveling to Krepost?

On the thought train to Krepost…how far was she from the walled city? Where had Hungry taken her? She didn't recognize this part of the woods, but all the woods looked more or less the same.

"How far to Krepost?" she asked the nearest boy in uniform.

"Not half a day by horse." He pointed off down the winding train in the direction they had been heading, "That is also our destination."

"Then why have you stopped? Don't you know these woods can be dangerous?" Sakura asked, not caring if she sounded too nosy. She glanced back into the trees, looking for signs of the wolves who stalked with other strains of rabies in their blood. If there was one, there was a good chance of there being more mad wolves out in the wilds.

She tried to stand, but then there were violent waves in her head again, so she bit her bottom lip between her teeth and sank back down to her rest on her heels. She needed to be slower. It didn't seem that the waters in her brain were going to subside until her next dream cycle, and that was probably fair, but it didn't feel fair at the moment.

"Have you still not given the devushka a water?" An older voice rang out. Sakura looked up and there was another boy in uniform that probably was a man. He knelt down in front of her, ignoring Hungry, and lifted a canteen of water to her lips. Sakura tasted the crisp freshness from the water as it hit the back of her throat and felt light all of a sudden. She must have swayed since he reached out to catch the back of her head and hold it while she drank from his hand.

Behind him, a few of the males watched anxiously. Her savior was a rank above them.

"Better?" he asked when she pulled away.

Sakura nodded, reaching up and wiping the water off her lips before sucking her forefinger dry. He was tall with dark hair, thick with curls that framed his face. In addition to his uniform he wore a cowl of fur around his shoulders and his cap was slightly tilted in a stylish way. His eyes were so dark, they reminded her of Uchiha eyes, of Shisui and Itachi. She winced and almost looked away, before reminding herself this was a new world and he wasn't an Uchiha.

"My name is Kagami," he spoke with a rich timber, watching her knuckles and fingers before his eyes flittered back up to hers. "Are you an artist or a musician?"

"Pardon?" She blinked. He took her hand and turned it over, palm face up and then palm face down. 

"Too delicate, even for a ladies' hands. You are skilled here. So…artist or musician?" Before she could answer, someone beat her to it. 

"She is neither." A new hand reached down from behind and took her hand out of Kagami's. Sakura looked up and saw Neji Hyuga, looking cool and official in his smart colors and uniform. "Sakura is a healer. And if I had to guess, that's what you were doing out here so close to the wolves in the first place."

"Neji," Sakura said, watching as he walked around to stand and then kneel in front of her, "I didn't think I would see you here.

"You haven't seen much of me lately, but I heard from Shizune you were helping her with certain…duties of a sensitive nature." Ah yes, the bodies. "Forgive me for not seeing you sooner."

"You were under no obligation," she tried to dismiss him, but Neji was anything if not steadfast.

"I apologize for treating you with unjust swiftness. Our last meeting was in the midst of unfortunate circumstances. You should not have been treated so casually."

It seemed to actually bother Neji to some degree, even though Sakura understood and didn't care if she was practically thrown out on an air of suspicion. Still, it didn't look like Neji was going to drop it anytime soon and there were people watching.

"You're forgiven, Neji. All was well. I'm sorry you were in such an uncomfortable situation," she replied, not missing the mildly peeved expression on Kagami's face as he watched the closed conversation right in front of him. He caught her eye and interjected.

"You know the Hyuga family, devushka?" He glanced sideways at Neji whose face was a mask of impassivity, "And here I came expecting Krepost to be of little interest this year. Will you be at the tanets held in our esteemed Tsarevich's honor?"

"Not…likely." Sakura wasn't sure what tanets meant, since it didn't echo a translation in her head, but she thought it meant party or dance. The Tsarevich was having a ball. "I am more of a doctor than a dancer, and there are people who need me," she answered in only partial truth.

Her mind went back to the wolves, their territory, and the obsidian vein she found in the ground. She would need Kiba to show her how to get back there so she could try and follow the vein to its source. She was close to the end of this gate, she could feel it.

Neji glanced between the dark haired Russian and Sakura before touching her shoulders lightly for attention. 

"I should escort you back to the settlements. You are weak."

"Nonsense, you can not leave the Tsarevich and his company when you represent the dedication of your whole family. You pay more the role of ambassador than soldier here." Kagami shook his head and then beckoned a younger boy over with dark hair and the same dark eyes. "No, Tobi will take her ahead of us or she shall ride in the extra carriage."

"I don't need an escort," Sakura tried to say before the looks shot down her attempts at refusal. She must look horrible. She clicked her tongue in annoyance, "Fine, I'll go with the escort, but I should really get back to check in on Kiba. He was attacked and I was responsible for putting him back together."

"Attack?" Kagami asked, looking to Neji and then to the empty carriage with the royal crest on its side, "What sort of attack?"

"The kind we warned you about," Neji interjected in a stony tone. Sakura glanced nervously between the two males. "That was the original intent in hiring the vagabonds for their unique services, since the problem was not deemed worthy of noted resources."

The boy, Tobi, had since walked over and looked like he wanted to ask why he had been summoned when the older Kagami rested a heavy hand on the boy's shoulder. 

"I'm sorry for calling you over, but I don't think I feel comfortable with my suggestion from earlier." He turned to look at Sakura, "If the woods are as unsafe as you suggest, one of my own isn't enough to ensure protection and I'm not willing to risk more. Please consider traveling with us in the cargo carriage."

Sakura wanted to argue and insist she wasn't a weak maiden that needed protection, but kept her mouth shut. She had a feeling it was better to just follow his suggestions until she could walk on her own without tipping over. Just for one dream cycle only. After she woke up again, she was on her own.

"Only as long as it's not a bother," she said, lowering her eyes and bowing her head slightly in thanks.

"Not at all," Kagami said. He smiled at her and Sakura heard a few of his officers make disappointed and or frustrated comments from behind him. Looking up, she caught one rolling his eyes.

Kagami then bent down to tell the boy, Tobi, something before sending him off towards the group that stood closest to the royal carriage. Sakura was helped up by Neji, and on his arm, she walked with him towards the dully colored carriage outfitted with trunks and supplies. There was enough room inside for Sakura to find a seat and get off her feet. Neji looked around first, finding a blanket and bedroll to stuff around her so that she could rest against them for comfort once they started moving.

"Some ladies have motion sickness for the first time in a carriage. There is an awful jostle depending on the road. With a hurt head….it would be best not to rattle it any more than it already is. Are you comfortable?" The blankets were soft and almost warm to the touch. Sakura felt herself melting at the touch. 

"Yes, I'm perfectly content. Hungry will do better outside next to the carriage."

"As would most hounds."

As if hearing them speaking about him, the large wolf dog turned his head and stared up at them from his spot next to the door. There was a short flattening of his ears before they swiveled back into place, and adjusted to hear the sounds around him.

Sakura looked up and saw the beginnings of a large procession coming back from the darker parts of the woods where a stream poured out of stone since being blessed by a half dead saint. At least that is according to the story. Sakura wasn't sure where the information came from, since it had always been Karin who was obsessed with the saints, tattooing her skin in their image more than once. The redhead's forearm and rib cage both bore testimony to the world of her love of martyred relics.

The procession was rather large, considering how many men were left behind and the fact that there was only one other carriage for two or three people to fit in, not including the royal carriage. Sakura didn't feel like moving very much, but she managed to lift her head enough to see Kagami say something to the man in the middle, the one with furs so thick around his neck she thought it must be concealing armor. His face was bent as he listened to Kagami but Sakura thought she saw the dark color of his hair and maybe part of his face before the Tsarevich nodded and waved Kagami away. Neji was close enough to her carriage to see her gaze. 

"The Tsarevich will not approach you, but should he at any time, do not raise your eyes too high. He has a view of himself that does not allow him to see others as equal, not even his father. Watch yourself around him."

"I try," Sakura said into the bed roll.

She didn't see it, but she heard Neji walk away, and heard the gravel and dirt shift under his feet when he passed the road in front of the carriage. Sakura inhaled the scent from the blankets and felt the woven fibers under her fingertips, sensitive to a touch she hadn't noticed before. There was a slight jostle as the carriage eased forward, pulled up into the procession some distance behind the other two carriages and surrounded on either side by guards. Hungry panted alongside the carriage, keeping up easily.

There were voices all around her, and she knew she was surrounded by men in arms, but somehow she tricked herself into thinking she was alone. That she was by herself in that carriage. When she opened her eyes, she knew better.

A thin sword of bone sat across his legs as his posture sunk against the back wall of the carriage. He seemed depleted and tired. A thin line of red crossed his face and dripped slowly. Parts of him were still ice, melting into flesh atom by atom until he was a whole man.

"Kimimaro," Sakura breathed, beholding the white haired boy. She blinked once, sat up and felt her heart lurch. "Where's Sai?" Kimimaro spared her a private smile before schooling his features back into place. 

"Not here, of course." He shifted in his seat. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. You would have to be perceptive to have made it so far. The only thing I can count against your intelligence is your supposed concern over the Sight of Dejection." 

"Should I be concerned for you?" Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. 

"Not at all, you shouldn't be concerned for anyone you meet here. We are a part of the curse because we deserve it, and I have tried to always be honest about my intentions and self interests. I won't lie and claim to help you, claim that I'm your guide or an appointed advocate to the dreamer. No, I am a piece just like every other figure you meet here. I have my own agenda, as does he."

Sakura tried to keep her face even and void of expression, but judging by the way Kimimaro curled his lip, she guessed she wasn't doing so great of a job. Sakura narrowed her eyes. 

"What?" she asked with limited venom.

"You think he is your friend?"

"Sai warned me to not trust you, and you said it yourself, you're not someone I can trust. You might decide to try and kill me one of these days." He turned his head to the side and looked at her. 

"Yes, I may kill you. But I will be honest with you when my intentions become so. I'm not trustworthy, but I'm honest."

"And Sai isn't?"

"There is no guide or appointed advocate for any dreamer who falls into the curse. The realm is just that, a curse, built for thieves and sinners to endure until madness strikes them dead. This is no game. One day you will die from this place. There never was any hope to begin with and he was a selfish fool to connivence you otherwise." His voice was as cold as his expression as he spoke. 

"Why would he do that?"

"Your knowledge is like wine to him. He wants you only for your words and the knowledge you possess. He is kind for no other end. Do not think you are privy to all his secrets."

Sakura had been subconsciously leaning into the conversation, stretching to be closer to Kimimaro, and once she noticed this, she eased back into her roll of blankets. She closed her eyes, inhaled the cotton and spice smells subtly imprinted onto the things around her, and stopped. When she opened her eyes again she could see more.

"He must have scared you."

A cross look came over his features. She saw his eyes flash with immaturity. 

"You think I'm lying."

"I think you're baiting me. You may be telling the truth or maybe you aren't. There isn't a way for me to be sure or check that, but the outcome you wanted was for me to avoid Sai, to lose my trust in him." She closed her eyes and nodded. When she looked up he was watching her. "What did he do to you?"

He held himself tense like a drawn bowstring. If he could, Sakura thought he would cave in on himself and compress into a black hole or some other singularity that is subtracted to a single point. He was dangerous, ready to lash out and consume everything into void. Sakura should have stopped, should have held her tongue, should have remembered how to hold silence in her mouth and keep it behind her teeth. She shouldn't have poked.

"What did he do to you, Kimimaro?"

His hand was on her throat, fingers splayed and nails dug in. Sakura jerked up and he held her from shooting for the door or banging on the roof. She should have kept her voice to herself and remembered her mother's warning about dogs that sleep. She shouldn't have provoked him and she knew. She knew she shouldn't have said that, but she also knew that she would have not done it differently if she had gone back and had the opportunity to do it again. Maybe that was why she didn't try to scream or look away when his eyes burned into hers. Not knowing she had done it, she saw herself smiling in her reflection in his eyes. If she could have she would have laughed too.

"I was right," she breathed, not being able to make any more breath pass through her throat.

His grip tightened, but then went slack enough for her to breath. He wouldn't snap her neck, he didn't intend to kill her like this. If he wanted her death, his bone spear would have gone clean through her or Hungry would have sounded off. As far as she knew he was still following outside, unaware of what happened inside the carriage. Was she really in danger? Something told her no.

"You don't know who you're dealing with," he bit out so low and icy she barely heard it.

"What did he do?" Her eyes were unflinching. 

He flinched and she saw it, the reason she didn't have to be afraid. She had seen it before in people like Karin and Ami and that boy from Hoboken who stressed out in math class and forgot to do the assignments. He was scared, but beyond that revelation was another. He was alone and that was what fed his fear.

She reached out and touched his arm, but the one that wasn't holding her. He didn't flinch but she felt the vibration in his arm that ran through his body.

"What did he say?"

He lunged for her and she felt the chill and bite of ice as it slammed against her. She fell backwards, but not before her face went red and then white from the frost that clung to her like death. She squeezed her eyes shut, too taken aback to keep them open, but once she did, she found herself alone.

A drop of water fell from her lashes onto her cheek before running off her chin. The snowflakes had begun to melt. Reaching up she wiped her face clean and had to sneeze. She was cold all the way through and doubted that would change anytime soon, no matter how many coats she dreamed up.

Until she reached the city gates, nothing else of incident occurred, even though she called for Sai and thought of him enough to let him know she wanted to meet with him. He never showed, even though she suspected it was because he was avoiding her and not because something had happened to him. Something might have happened to him, it was a perfectly logical conclusion once she considered Kimimaro's state of appearance, but somehow that didn't seem right. She would have known if he left the world.

Leaving Neji and the procession behind, Sakura found Hana and through the frantic sister, was led to Kiba who was patched up and sleeping in one of the tents. There were so many furs dumped around him and over him she had trouble removing them all to get to the cuts on his chest. She eventually got to one and pulled back the bandage just enough to see. With a finger to the wound she reached out for a mental image of what existed in his blood. She searched for the bullet shaped virus, but saw only her own blood, shimmering and luminescent with a faint undertone of pale green coloring. No, there was some of the virus still left, but it was being eaten away and was nearly purged. Kiba would be fine.

"How is he?" Hana asked, fearing the worst. Sakura smiled up reassuringly. 

"Just wounded. There is no sickness in his blood. He now needs only rest." The fear drained away from all the others listening, and Sakura watched as Hana fell to her knees and thanked a Christian saint in spite of their pagan roots.

Sakura stood up and then slipped back into reality.

The next two days passed by with little event. Kiba still slept, fitfully at times, but well enough that Sakura didn't have any reason to fear for his condition. Neither Sai or Kimimaro came to visit her, no matter how much she called out with her mind for someone to answer her. However, one both days a rushlk woman attacked her while in the camp. Neither attempt on her life was worth getting worked up over, since Hungry was always with her in addition to the other clan wolves and members. The white women were pulled apart in moments.

On the outside, Sakura's relationship with Karin became faded and thin. Karin went out a lot on her own, and no one in her family seemed to know anything about it when Sakura asked. Everyone thought it was Sakura Karin went out to see, but with Karin not texting or calling, Sakura suspected she was one of the last people on the planet the tattooed Italian wanted to see.

Sakura caught sight of Karin once from across the street coming out of the cinema. She was wearing soft white and pink. Instead of her usual edgy style, her shoes were strappy heels, and her band tee was a floral spring dress. Beside her walked a slouched male with expensive shoes and a bored expression.

Sakura felt sucker punched, and that's how she woke up on the third day.

She slept on a bed of furs next to Kiba's bed. Hungry lay curled around her, larger than before. She had seen great danes, but Hungry was larger now. In a few days she would be able to ride him. Until then, he was the best blanket and friend she could possibly ask for.

Rolling over, she reached for the knife under her bed furs and checked it for dirt before slipping it into her boot. She slept with her shoes on, same as everyone else in the clan. If you weren't wearing your shoes you were sick or expected to be in bed for a long time. Kiba didn't sleep with his shoes on anymore.

Sakura stood and moved to the flat dish with a pitcher of water set next to it. She poured a bowl for herself and washed her face, watching her reflection bob and weave on the surface until it stilled with the waters. She looked better, less pale, and the circles that hung like dark shadows under her eyes were gone. Her blood was full in her veins again.

"Like it should be," she said to Hungry, scratching him behind the ear. Hana came in just then to check in on Kiba. She grimaced, but tried to smile for Sakura. 

"I heard him talking in his sleep last night. Is that a good thing?"

"He's not comatose, just exhausted. I wouldn't be surprised if he's woken up already but fallen back to sleep right after. Physical wounds are one thing, but he was fighting a virus. That's a bit more serious, but he will be fine." Sakura crossed back over to his bed and sat down on the end. "He'll be up soon." Hana nodded, glancing back towards the entrance to the tent and then back at her brother. 

"I thought he might have woken up last night. He said your name, so I thought you were talking." Sakura blinked. 

"Kiba did?"

Hana nodded.

"Ah, I must not have heard it. I slept too soundly for a good doctor. Regardless, take it as a good sign. He'll be up soon." Hana glanced towards the flap once more before speaking. 

"Were you planning on going into the city today, Sakura?"

"I wasn't planning on it, why?" Sakura asked. Hana lifted and dropped her shoulders in a shrug. 

"Ah, no reason. You've just been so close to him this entire time. But…it's because he's your patient, isn't it? You would treat anyone the same way, wouldn't you?"

"Is that a bad thing?" Sakura picked up on the odd shadow of meaning to Hana's words, but didn't understand them. Of course she would take care of Kiba just as well as anyone else. What did his sister think of her? Did she doubt Sakura's ability to take care of a person just because she knew them?

"No, you have been nothing but kind to my brother and my people, but if I might be frank with you," Hana said as she sat down next to Sakura on the edge of Kiba's bed. "You don't plan to live with us forever, do you?"

"I hadn't…"

"You are not one to stay with anyone for too long. You have the scent of a wanderer on your soul. One day you will have to wander away from us, and that's your prerogative and your choice. We can't say no and we can't hold you back."

"Hana," Sakura said, frowning. "What is it you're trying to say?" Kiba's older sister squared her shoulders and looked Sakura dead in the eye, unflinching, unblinking.

"He cares for you too much. He's like our clan kin in the sense that Kiba is dedicated. Wolves take one mate for themselves, and once they've chosen, that's it. I'm afraid he's grown too attached to you, not knowing better. Maybe it's just a crush, and that's what I hope it is, but if he truly does love you, you're still going to leave and it will crush his heart." She took a deep breath before saying more. "I don't want to see him go through that."

She wasn’t, but Sakura still felt lost. She hadn't thought there to be any harm in Kiba's puppy love or his obvious attraction. She tried to think back, but she couldn't say without a doubt she had never led him on. She never meant to, but what did that look like to him?

"I've never meant to entangle myself in such a way," Sakura said with her eyes downcast. She looked up and saw Hana's face pinched a bit, as if in pain. "Hana?"

"I… I don't want him to hate me either, but I had to warn you. If you're not aware of it, then I'm just as to blame. If you have no intentions of pursuing my brother, please distance yourself." Sakura remembered back to when she saw Karin and felt the knife in her gut turn. 

"You're asking me to leave if I don't want anything relationship wise with Kiba."

Hana didn't say anything this time.

Sakura breathed out once and then turned to look Kiba over. He would wake up soon. It would be better if she wasn't around for it. Better for him to believe she left him behind or something.

Her things were easy to collect, and easier to forget, so she took what she could remember to pack and set off for the gates, knowing she would have a place in the rafters of the church where saints were adorned in gold and halos. She started to leave, but stopped and turned to walk back into the tent. She didn't cross the threshold, but she got close enough so that Hana could see her standing there.

"If his condition gets worse for any reason, I will be with the other doctors inside the city. There is a church you can find me at. You shouldn't need to but…"

Hana didn't say anything, and Sakura didn't feel like forcing anything else out of her mouth so she nodded to the tattooed woman and turned on her heel to finish exiting the camp. It didn't take long to get inside the city, even though it was substantially more busy than the last time she visited. More people flooded the streets and it was harder trying to get around with a dog, but eventually she found the church with the snake draped over a cross painted onto the door and let herself in.

The church was the main building attached to Shizune's tiny clinic. In the back was a private section for the truly sick, but most of the bodies lay in the main sanctuary in front of icons with prayer beads spilling out from between their fingers. Only the sickest rested on beds in the back.

Everyone inside was too busy to notice her, so she tucked her things away in a pew up above the rest and then walked back down to where the sick were being kept. No one approached her, no one vetted her, no one tried talking to her, and no one seemed to notice her. A nun looked up and noted her presence after a while, but didn't do or say anything more after that.

Frowning to herself, Sakura stopped beside the first patient with fever and wiped a hand across their brow. There was a dormant madness in his veins, not active like the madness that wrecked Kiba's blood, but a madness all the same. It would be many days, maybe even weeks before this person died if he didn't get the cure.

Pulling a thought out of mid air, Sakura produced a tube and needle that she could use to transfuse blood from her veins into his. He didn't need much, so she didn't spare him much. Unlike Kiba, this patient wasn't suffering from blood loss and extensive external injuries. When she was done, she didn't even feel light headed.

There were five other patients who were suffering from the same illness, and Sakura treated all of them before she was caught by Shizune. When she turned to face the older woman there was a low sun sending light through the stained glass windows.

"One of the sisters told me there was a suspicious doctor treating their patients. I thought it might be you when they said they were too afraid to approach you with that wolf hunkering in the shadows." Shizune swept into the church only to be greeted with smiles and grateful nods. The older woman pulled the gloves off her fingers and nodded back before looking over at Sakura. "What have you been doing to these people?"

"Fixing them," Sakura replied while sweeping her arm back to show off the tube filled with blood that connected her to a young maid with copper red hair, "They're the ones the nuns are all avoiding."

"They have the mad sickness. That's why they are avoided." Shizune reached over and pulled out the leather straps that hung loose and unused over the sides of the bed, "And that is why they sleep next to straps. What are you treating them with?"

"My own blood. I have a version of the anti virus since I'm immune to the disease. The strain I was vaccinated against was called rabies, however the two are similar enough that the same cure works for both." Sakura unplugged herself from the tube and let the last of her blood seep into the young girl before rolling the tube up again.

"You're quite cunning to test out such a theory on the left for dead," Shizune said in a tonal voice matched only by her dead gaze. Sakura almost flinched.

"You think I'm really that much of a jerk, do you? This isn't a test. The only reason Kiba is alive is because I emptied half of my blood count into him. He was bit by a mad wolf and because of my blood he's still alive and not foaming at the mouth over another poor dead body," Sakura smiled sarcastically, "I'm real popular with his family right now." Shizune made a face like she didn't understand, so Sakura shook her head and waved it away. 

"Never mind, it was a bad joke. Speaking of which, do you think the people here would mind if I stayed overnight. I can't imagine there are a lot of spare rooms to be had in the city when people litter the outer walls."

"This place is for the sick, but you are welcome to it as a fellow doctor." Shizune's expression darkened. "Why do you not have a place to stay anymore? I thought the Wolf tribe was making you a part of their band."

"Ah, and that's where things got tricky. Ha- eh, some of the members didn't like the fact that I had a life outside of the tribe and wanted to go off after the winters passed and do my own thing. They didn't like my lack of commitment and made it clear I was one of them for life, or I was destined for the hills," She shrugged, "And as a medic, I'm too much of a wanderer to stay with family for too long. Plus, I have plans." She thought of the vein of obsidian growing through the earth within the mad wolf's territory. Yes, she had plans.

"You don't have anywhere else to stay. What about the Hyuga? I'm sure they would be willing to put you up considering they owe you one. Hinata wouldn't mind."

Upon hearing Shizune's words, Sakura remembered something about the last time she visited this place. 

"Speaking of the young lady heir, how often does she come to visit?"

Shizune stiffened, and Sakura watched as the internal struggle surged behind the older woman's eyes. She was debating whether or not to confess what she knew, or play ignorance. Sakura smiled slowly, and Shizune realized ignorance wouldn't get her anywhere.

Letting out a deep sigh she nodded to the back and led Sakura to a curtained off section. Beyond the fabric was a bed, bigger than the others, and draped heavily in furs. The body on the bed was thin, pale, and close to death, but his clothing was fine enough to lessen his grim appearance.

"The old suffer longer than the young with the madness," Shizune said.

"He's one of you Boyer, a noble. What is he doing here? Shouldn't he be put up in his house?" Sakura curled her lip. 

"Not if it's the madness curse. Not even a title like the Monkey King could persuade his family to keep him at home, not when young ones wander the halls now." Shizuna tried to mask the pain seeping into her expression, "He was a mentor to Hinata, but now he is just one of the dying leapers. Don't waste your blood on him."

Sakura looked the old man over and saw wrinkles and laugh lines sag heavy on his face. He reminded her of her own grandmother, and wondered if there were others like Hinata who missed him. Without listening to her advice, Sakura produced her tube and drew blood from her arm before funneling it straight into his veins. He was old and sick, but health once stripped of his strain of madness. By the end, Sakura started to feel light in the head. She turned and saw Shizune grimacing at her. Sakura grinned more to herself than the older woman.

"Sorry, I was never good at doing what I was told."

The next day Sakura felt it when Kiba awoke. She waited for him to seek her out, but he didn't come.

"Sakura?" the man on the bed asked in a questioning tone. Looking back down at her patient, Sakura checked his face for signs of distress and found only confusion.

"I'm sorry, was I making an odd expression?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi huffed and shook his head, trying to get comfortable in his bed among all the furs and plush covers that had been sent from his home. He was an older man with leathery, sun colored skin and deep wrinkles. He was slightly malnourished from his brush with death, but he still had the impressive carriage of a ruler and never seemed to forget how to hold himself like a king.

That's what the others called him, the monkey king. Famous for his pet monkeys while in power, the ancient Boyer noble managed to inspire reverence even from the threshold of death. Already friends and family were sending him gifts and congratulations on his recovery. They were empty congratulations, and they both knew it.

"Something has you distracted, or else you've overextended yourself again. A personal medic should be coming to see to my needs now that I'm not contagious. You shouldn't be bothering with me now." She hummed around a smile as she looked back to the windows and the colored lights streaming through. 

"Ah, they told me that about you once, but aren't you glad I didn't listen? What makes you think I'll obey someone's orders now?"

"Then you should come back with me and leave the rest of these patients to the nuns." He reached for his pipe but Sakura made a grab for it first, holding it just out beyond his reach with a knowing smile. His sour expression darkened, "But then again, you're a nasty spit of fire that's better left unprovoked. Demon."

"I told you it wasn't good for your lungs."

"Let a dying man have his pleasures."

"You're not dying anymore."

"And no one cares." He was as gruff as ever with his reply as he made a second swipe for his pipe. 

Sakura leaned back and tapped the pipe against her lips, teasingly before finding a match from inside her kaftan and striking it. She gripped the pipe between her lips and blew, stoking the fire. The monkey king's glower darkened further.

"I thought you said it wasn't good for your lungs," he bit back.

Sakura blew a small cloud like a content dragon and watched it twist away from her lips. 

"No one cares." Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head and settled back into his bed. 

"You're an imp. Never has a thorn in my side tormented me so. Dry out your lungs then, see if I care."

Sakura shrugged and blew another stream of smoke through her teeth. It came out flat but fattened up a short distance from her face. She blew again, but this time through her pinched lips, and a ring swirled out. From out of the corner of her eye she caught Hiruzen Sarutobi watching her intently, if not mildly impressed with her smoke blowing skills. When she turned to look him in the eye and smile he turned away with a huff. Sakura wanted to laugh but her heart sat heavy in her chest. 

"I'll return this then. Burn up the last of your life, if that's what you truly wish. I'm not going anywhere, it seems." The monkey king took his pipe back with a loud huff of displeasure, but didn't smoke from it. Instead, he began to wipe the spit clean. 

"That doesn't sound like a good thing to these old ears of mine. I've seen plenty of children, enough to know when there's something wrong with them. Something must be terribly wrong with you if you're here and not out with someone of a halfway decent company." Sakura didn't say anything and didn't move for a while. Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes, setting his pipe down. 

"Ah, no rebuttal? If you're reduced to spending time with this old fossil you must be in dire need of friends. When was the last time you were invited to a party?"

There was talk of the Tsarevich throwing a grand ball for the closing of the gates, but smaller parties happened nearly every week, if not day, somewhere in the inner ring. Sakura hadn't been invited to anything, and saw no problem with that, since her true goal existed outside the city walls. Her Obelisk was with the mad wolves. Hungry stirred underneath her legs, as if he sensed her train of thoughts. She reached down to scratch him behind the ears. 

"I have errands to run today, no time for parties." His expression soured further. 

"What errands? For work or pleasure?"

"I won't be gone for long," Sakura lied, having every intention of leaving that dream cycle, no matter how much Sai ignored her or how much Kimimaro stalked outside her church without coming in or letting himself be seen. He had been lurking out in the shadows since the attacks from his white women stopped. Sakura had a feeling he hadn't been behind the first few assaults and was taking measures now to prevent them. She didn't know why, but she couldn't bring herself to care at this rate.

She dressed at the door, ignoring the glares from Hiruzen Sarutobi, and pinned her heavy black Kafka closed with a dozen tiny mother of pearl buttons. Even though it was within a dream, the days were seeming colder and colder to Sakura, and she wondered if that had anything to do with the seasons changing in the real world outside of her dreams. Halloween was in a few weeks and she was nearly done with her dress, but she didn't know if she wanted to go anymore with Karin going AWOL on her so often.

Sakura and Hungry left together and made it through the outer ring in little to no time before speeding out of the gates towards the Monarch Woods. It was near noon, but Sakura was determined to be a memory before that sun started to descend too far. Hungry was like the wind on her heels, and with a body made up of dreams and empty of limitations, Sakura ran without stopping. She ran faster with her body bent low to the ground, clawing, digging, leaping, flying over brush and under branch. The woods were a watercolor blur around her as shapes lost their definition.

North. She didn't know exactly where she was going, but she knew she needed to head north from the gates. Keep running towards the north, where the cold winds come from.

The running became something she did without thinking, and her mind became blissfully empty. Run, her body was a primal machine that needed no explaining. All she had to do was run.

A flash of Onyx told her she was close and she felt it when she passed over into the territories of the mad wolves, but she felt something else too, or a lack of something. She slid to a halt, digging her heel and spinning on it to face backwards and see where Hungry hunched down.

"Hungry," She waved and called to him, slapping her side, but her oversized wolf companion wouldn't budge. He growled at the line where the territory began, but wouldn't go to her side. She tried calling again, tried being sweet, tried growling, tried threatening. He wouldn't budge.

Sakura felt like crying. This wasn't what she needed right now. After being chased out by Hana, abandoned by Karin, separated from Sasori, ignored by Sai… rejected by her mother. Her throat felt like closing. The sun was high and dipping, but so deep in the woods it was dark and she was cold and now she was alone.

"Not you too," Sakura growled, staring over at her companion, "You're not allowed to leave me too."

But Hungry did. Her wolf turned and ran away, bounding like a bolt of silver light through the shadows in between trees. Sakura felt the nonliteral fist bury deep in her gut and she dropped to her knees. She cried for Sai, she cried for Sasori and Pein, she even tried reaching out for Kimimaro. She called for Kiba, and knew that when she stopped screaming there would be no one there to greet her.

The sun dipped lower and her tears dried up. In her heart there was only anger. Alone, that was what she was, no amount of anguish would change that. Fine. Things would be different soon. She would make things different.

Sakura turned and pivoted off her knees onto the balls of her feet. Across her back were twin single shot Berdan rifles carved out of scrimshaw. Before, the fear made her sloppy, so she weighed herself down with Damascus steel. She would not be empty handed when she approached the Obelisk.

She could feel it like a thrum in her chest the closer she ran. Veins of shimmering black poked through the earth more and more. She heard the rustling of leaves and felt the dank from too many mouths. They were all around her and by now they were behind her too. No going back.

Shit, what was she doing?

All of a sudden the trees dropped away and then so did the earth. She stopped suddenly on the edge of a narrow chasm cut by rouge onyx. There were deep veins left empty all throughout the clearing. She couldn't run anymore, she had to be more careful.

Her eyes were drawn up and she saw a large stone structure that looked like the backside of a mountain, but a mountain that had been pulled apart and then smashed back together in the dark. It was ugly, monstrously ugly, and that was where the veins all ran down from. Her obelisk was deep inside that mountain, in the heart of it, she knew without a shadow of doubt.

She took a step, and the first wolf leapt from the left. Sakura whirled and rolled one of the guns off her back before leveling it and taking the shot. She didn't shake this time, and her lead landed right between the wolf's yellowed eyes. It's body fell with an echoing thud, shaking the ground beneath her.

A second wolf stepped out of the shadows, and then another. Sakura circled around, counting off the pairs of eyes she saw and made the mental calculations in her head. Half a dozen wolves stepped out into the light, but she knew there were a dozen more sulking in the shadows. They were all sick to some extent, but most of them were sane. Soon the madness would start to show, and Sakura knew they wouldn't hesitate so much then.

She took the time to open up her rifle and slide in another round, before locking it into the chamber and thrusting it forward. It took too many steps, and she doubted they would let her reload again. She righted her gun just in time to track a large male wolf darting into her sights. He went down fast, but his mate came at her faster. Sakura dropped her gun and reached for the second one, leveling it up in time to tear a hole through the female wolf's throat. She went down without suffering, her spinal column blasted through.

Sakura didn't have time to drop her gun when the third wolf game, instead she swung it around and caught the wolf in the mouth with the but of it before sending him into the dirt beside her. She flipped to grab the barrel in her hands and pounded the wolf's face in until something tore through her back. She dropped her bloodied gun and drew a short dagger that cut air fast enough to cut the skin off the muzzle of the wolf that attacked her. She screamed and it shied away before lunging again.

Sakura lost herself in the fight. Her movements were fragments of a memory as she danced through the stances and the injuries. They tore at her, clawed at her, bit at her. She was cut open, and the evidence of their mouths told a story all up and down her body. Her shoulder was chewed open, her arm near limp. Half moons of angry red wounds dotted her body from the places where their jaws took hold and ripped at flesh.

There was sweat on her face and tears too. Her arm was limp from the shoulder down and she was starting to see double vision. There were more and more wolves coming out from between the trees and not all of them seemed in control of their minds like the first wave. The crazies were coming from farther away.

Sakura felt something new take purchase in her chest. She choked on it as blood coated her teeth from wounds internal. Hopelessness. This time, there was no hope. Sai was gone, Hungry had left her. She was alone and there was no hope in her loneliness. This time, she was going to die.

'I don't want to go like this!' she mentally screamed, staggering back towards a mound of rocks she could lean against. She saw herself being buried in a too thin coffin in a grave plot, surrounded by dead leaves and the occasional crow, abandoned and forgotten.

'She died in her sleep,' the priest would tell the visitors to other dead men and women.

From deep inside her, she pulled out the strength she didn't know she had, and screamed loud enough to rip the world in two. It was a desperate cry and the wolves knew it well. Seeing an opening, Sakura took it, dashing for the woods where she could run away and try to live another day.

She stumbled only once, and when she rose again, it was to look back over her shoulder and see a wolf the size of a modest elephant stand lurking in the mouth of the obelisk cave. Her muzzle was dripping with blood.

Sakura cried again and ran faster. Into the darkness over the brush, she was fading and soon she wouldn't have the blood to stand, but she needed to clear the line where territories started and ended. If she could get out, she could wake and everything would be managed. Her wounds in the real world were not ever as bad as the ones in the dream, close, but not as bad. She just needed to make it.

Poppies were blooming behind her eyes and the darkness crept into her vision. She fell to her knees and crawled, reaching and grabbing with her broken nails for a hold she could pull herself up from. A shock of Obsidian ran under her hand before she felt it fall away. She was atop a vein, but it was a vein that opened up to a chasm. One wrong step and she would be sent falling.

The wolves howled behind her and Sakura turned to see their colors flashing through the trees, growing larger and larger. They would be on her soon.

"God help me," she whispered before limping forward and diving into the chasm left by obsidian just as the wolves sailed over her.

Sakura woke up screaming. Screaming…and covered in her own blood. Tangled around her bedsheets, everything was stained red as her body burned in agony. While the damage was not as extensive as it was when in the dream world, she forgot about how much more it hurt. She was real again, and these wounds were real too. Her shoulder was a mess and her heart was a hammer in her chest as panic set in.

Her mind started cutting out. One minute she was in her bed, the next she's on the tile floor of her bathroom, climbing into the tub. Somehow she found her phone and hit something on speed dial. Someone called out her name a lot, and the words that came from Sakura's lips made no sense, but it was clear they were panicked words. She was crying a lot and laying limp in the tub. She needed to clean her wounds, she needed to bind them. She needed to apply pressure and to stop the bleeding.

But she was cold and she couldn't remember how to move.

It was a long while later before she heard anything again, and she knew because the blood on her face was cracking. Someone was downstairs screaming for her and seconds later Karin stormed up the stairs and stopped in her room. Maybe she screamed, maybe she didn't. Sakura opened her eyes and her friend was there, cursing and swearing, and crying. Someone else was there too, calling 911. Sakura turned her head to look and saw Karin's dad. Ah, that was who drove her.

"What the hell happened?" Karin screamed, more angry than anything.

"Wild dogs," Sakura whispered, not having the strength to lie. They would know soon enough. The teeth marks still marked her like a calling card. She tried breathing and it was so much harder.

"You're a fucking idiot," Karin hissed. Her father didn't reprimand her for the language, and Sakura knew she must look bad for her father to not say anything.

"Sorry." Sakura closed her eyes, feeling lost in her own body. She managed to lift her lids enough to see Karin some more and smiled. "I missed you. Thanks for… coming."

"This isn't how I wanted to see you."

"Naturally." Sakura tried rolling her eyes, but couldn't lift her lids. "Ah… lost too much blood. Sorry."

"Don't apologize you stupid idiot." Karin's voice cracked and she tried to hide it with an angry growl, "You're so annoying. Just, damn it, worry about yourself for once and forget about apologizing to people….to me! You're such an idiot, always an idiot!" Sakura just smiled, her eyes still closed. 

"Missed you."

Karin was crying loudly, and her father knelt down beside the pair to hold his daughter and cover Sakura's hand with his own. He was whispering prayers and Karin whispered some too. It was enough to make Sakura think she was dreaming again because Karin never prayed…or if she did it wasn't out loud or in front of other people. She sounded scared.

Sakura wanted to keep her eyes open but they were too heavy, and soon her mind followed.

She was back in the chasm, but not in her body, the one she dressed while in the dream world. She was ethereal, a ghost or spirit without wounds of solidity. She could see where she landed, and see that the crack in the earth stretched father down then she first believed.

Down, deeper into the darkness she drifted, following the spider web of veins where black shimmered like an exposed shard of night sky. She began to see the ruins before long, and knew she was now directly under the cliff face where her obelisk hid. She was below the clearing, but this cavern was anything but clear.

Ancient and trimmed in detail, the onion domed roofs topped a handful of towers, while others disappeared into the stone ceiling overhead. Once upon a time, it had been painted with colors bright and plentiful, but now the exterior of the castle walls were dull and scraped clean by stone. Parts of the castle were cracked and separated from the main building, and others had crumbled all together. A sunken castle, buried by time and stone.

Sakura was a ghost in the cavern, so she did what ghosts did best. She floated down and passed through the main gates to haunt the abandoned walls. In the back of her mind, she could hear Karin and her father speaking, and new voices too, but then it faded out of mind and she was alone again.

She stopped and looked around to see where she was. She hadn't realized she had walked in since she picked up on the echo of Karin's voice. The halls were full of dust and shadows, but in the shadows, covered in dust, were ornate side tables decorated with ming vases and halls covered in life-sized portraits of Czars and their families. Some were young, some were old, but all were decadent and powerful in their posture, even the women.

Sakura was staring at a Czar with an impressively thick mustache when she heard the sound of slicing metal. She turned and looked down, noting a rough direction for the source of the sound. Following the hallway up to the grand staircase that wound upwards, she drifted closer and closer until she was on the threshold of a ballroom, left to collect dust and dirt as parts of the rocks spilled in through the self made windows.

She caught herself and held back when she saw the bone white sword twirl beyond Kimimaro's reach before the pale boy drew it back to his side and angled it again for a second strike. Sai circled his opponent, a saber in his hand and a red line cut across the left cheek of his face. His eyes were hard stones of darkness that did not waver.

"Should I be impressed?" Kimimaro asked in a bored tone, turning his sword over in hand once more, "You've lasted longer in this world than anyone believed you would, but it's time you returned to your own kingdom. Build yourself a castle out of that library of yours and mark it with a clock tower."

"Unlikely," Sai replied in monotone, "Force me out if you think you can, snake child."

"The names are not necessary. In case you haven't noticed, I haven't killed our precious dreamer and have made no move to do so since that first, misguided campaign. Do you really think I would still be willing to extinguish the only life in this accursed place after so many eons?"

They were talking about her. She was the dreamer. They must not have noticed her hiding behind the door, or maybe they couldn't see her because she wasn't really asleep, just knocked out. Clearing her head of thoughts, Sakura leaned down and pressed herself flat against the door, intent on listening for as much as she could.

"You are not to be trusted." Sai's face was blank.

"She said you told her that." Kimimaro tilted his head back and stared at Sai down the length of his nose. He almost sneered, but Sakura thought she might have imagined that part. "Have you been able to tell the dreamer anything more, or should I speak on your behalf? Should I tell her of your trustworthiness?"

Something flashed in Sai's face, the briefest of emotions before he swung again, buttons flashing as his torso turned into the assault. Kimimaro parred easily, showing his skill in footwork alone. Sai recovered quickly and backtracked to a safe distance before replying. 

"Let me leave and I would gladly spill my words."

"It took me too much effort to manage trapping you here, even after I caught you tampering with the makeup of this gate world," The pale boy paused in his stalking and then reversed his feet, backwards, "Was that something you told her about yet, or could I be the bearer of such news?" Sai hunched and gripped his sword tighter, mouth pressed into a thin line. 

"I will be the one to leave here this time," he whispered into this blade before rushing at Kimimaro.

There was a wild show of steel and bone as the two fought, but Sakura could tell, and it was painfully clear after the first few exchanges, that Sai was outmatched. Kimimaro looked like he hardly put in the effort to deflect blows and counter strikes. It was an uneven fight.

Suddenly, Kimimaro was a blur of swordplay and Sai was pushed back. In a flurry, Kimimaro pressed forward and a moment later, Sai's saber was knocked straight up into the air and back a ways. Sai stumbled, his hands free, and Kimimaro pressed his advantage. The pale boy surged forward and slashed Sai across the chest. Sakura felt her heart stop as Kimimaro cut Sai clean through, spraying the room with blood as Sai fell to the floor in pieces. Kimimaro shrugged, staring down at Sai as the boy began to break down into smoke that writhed in apparent anger before being scattered throughout the castle. 

"That should keep him busy for a few more hours…at least until she dreams again. I can't imagine it would take him very long to pull a body back together after having done it so many times. Maybe I should be worried."

He turned and left, never noticing the petrified ghost lingering in the hallway.

"I have a few more questions for you before we can dismiss you. There were trace amounts of a strain of rabies in your blood, so this is information we have to share with the police. First off, how many were there?"

"Just two," Sakura lied.

"When did the incident take place?"

"Last night."

"And where?"

"Behind my house in the woods. I live in Highland Creek."

"What were you doing outside after dark?" Sakura shrugged her shoulders, making a show of looking around the room before answering. 

"I get stressed sometimes, and taking a walk outside helps alleviate anxiety. I've never had an incident before." The lie felt so easy on her tongue and it just got easier the more she spoke. It didn't even phase her to look into the woman's eyes as she spilled half truths. Her lies were that easy.

It was late afternoon by the time Sakura was escorted out of the Urgent Care. Karin sat in the backseat with her while her dad drove them back to the pizza parlor. They had called Sakura's work and canceled her shifts for the next two days and tried picking up books they thought she would need for school, but she assured them all she needed to do was email her professor, something she did on her iphone while waiting for more shots at the UC.

It was much later, when Sakura finally got up to move on her own, that she felt the bruises. By some miracle, there were no fractures or broken bones in her body, but there were too many sore patches to make walking an easy task. Her left knee had been busted up pretty bad too, and had been put in one of those black velcro braces for added support. The brace belonged to Karin from back when she used to get beat up doing roller derby on an all girl team from Queens. Sakura's left ankle was pretty swollen too, but that was bandaged by the nurse.

Karin's mom was in the shop rolling out pizzas with the boys when the trio tried sneaking in. Kushina was far too vigilant to let her chosen family sneak by without her honorary fussing. The pretty redhead stopped short when she saw the sight of Sakura and stayed frozen for a good half a minute before breathing again.

"Please," Sakura tried joking in a dry laugh, "I'm not too ugly, am I?" The mother was still shell shocked when she spoke. 

"You said a dog did this?"

"Dogs, as in, more than one, and it looks worse than it really is. Give it a week and I'll be perfect again."

"Have you called your mother, does she know?"

Karin had been holding Sakura up from the left side, and at the mention of her mother, Sakura felt Karin twitch. Even when they were mad at each other, Karin never liked Sakura's mom.

"I called and left a message. I think she's busy, but it's not like she could have done anything about it now. I just need rest."

Karin's mother took a few steps forward and hesitantly pulled the pair of girls into a soft hug that was considerate of the wounds and bruises. Sakura felt the mother's shoulders shiver as she fought back tears. 

"You will always have a place here. Go upstairs and have Karin make you a bed, we'll keep an eye on you."

Sakura didn't cry, but she felt the back of her eyes sting with unshed tears. She smiled and squeezed her eyes shut to hide the growing redness, and limped with Karin up the stairs and into the bedroom. Karin was mindful of Sakura and took her time on the stairs, leading her into the bedroom.

Instead of making a bed, Karin pulled her mattress off the bed, onto the floor, and laid pillows up and down the sides so it looked larger than a queen size. Somehow, Karin seemed to find pillows everywhere and kept pulling throws and down pillows out of the most unusual places until there was a nice place set up for Sakura to recline but not lie down.

"It's just like old times. When was the last time we put so much effort into a sleepover?" Sakura asked, trying to remember a sleepover when they didn't just pass out on the bed or couch without making up anything special. When Karin didn't say anything, and refused to turn around, Sakura frowned. "I don't know if I said this yet, but thank you. I didn't know if you would come." Karin turned around and her eyes were red and narrowed. She looked pissed. 

"Don't you dare," she hissed.

Sakura stilled, watching her friend with a forced, languid expression. Karin could be a real witch sometimes, but she could also be a volcano.

"Don't you dare think I wouldn't come," Karin whispered, turning away again and bowing her head into her knees as she sat on the edge of the mattress, "You should have never had to doubt me in the first place."

"Karin."

"I was so mad at you! I really hated you for a while. I tried talking to you and you didn't understand and you left me and wouldn't talk to me, and then you nearly died," she babbled, "I… I thought someone had sliced you to pieces when I saw the bed sheets! I thought you were dead in the tub! Why the hell were you alone for so long? What about Ami?"

"She's been in France with her dad," Sakura quietly supplied, not knowing if Karin actually wanted an answer or someone to yell at. It was better to let her erupt and get it all out. "Sorry." Karin growled in the way teenagers growled in front of their unfair parents and smashed her fist down on the edge of the bed. 

"Don't you dare! You don't get to be sorry! That's on me! I own that!,” she took a breath, “You don't get to have those feelings when you don't deserve them. I'm the one that's a sorry mess, you bitch. I'm the stupid one who chose a guy over my best friend," Karin's voice broke and Sakura heard the tears.

Even though it hurt to move, Sakura shifted and crawled over to her friend before wrapping an arm around her and pulling her to her side. Karin's face was wet and she tried to fight back the tears that fell even more. Karin was muttering things like 'stupid' and 'boy' under her breath, and Sakura understood that this was about more than just her. He was gone again, but this time he didn't shatter her.

"We're going to be okay," Sakura whispered into Karin's hair, holding her friend close as she cried, "You're going to be fine."

"Bitch," Karin choked, "You're the one….who…” she hiccuped, “who's hurt."

Sakura didn't say anything more, but she stayed close to her friend and remembered how much she needed a companion when she was being devoured by wolves.

Sakura crawled her way out of that hole and staggered back to the church, where she rested for another four days under the watchful eyes of Shizune and the other nuns while Hungry stalkingly protected her from the shadows. It was part due to her condition and part due to her fame that there was an added level of caution in regarding her.

Somehow, word had gotten out about a living saint who healed the sick and nearly died with her blood. Mothers were already carrying icons in her image and candles were being lighted in her name. They sang songs of her, invented a mythology around her. A wanderer who was abandoned as a child and raised by wolves, appointed by God for a holy purpose. Like the way the almighty shut the mouths of the lions in Daniel's den, He appointed a feral beast to protect the divine woman.

"Quite a likeness, isn't it?" Hiruzen Sarutobi, the monkey king asked as he produced a piece of paper for her to take.

Sakura grimaced as she reached down from her perch in the rafters to take the drawing he had picked up on the streets. It was a black and white ink drawing of a woman clothed in a black dress tied with beggar's rope. In her hands she held a goblet, the elixir of life, and in the other she curled two fingers and lifted the other three in a gesture that was considered the mark of the archangel Gabriel. Around her body stalked a deadly looking wolf, and behind her head was a halo of gold. The only part of the ink drawing that was colored was the halo.

"It looks expensive," Sakura duly commented.

"She's a real beauty in all the icons I buy," the old man teased her fondly, "I'm quite proud that my saint is fairest of them all."

"I'm not a saint," Sakura said while rolling her eyes. She knew what saints meant to people and couldn't possibly imagine impersonating one.

"Not yet, you still have to die horribly at the hands of some cruel fate, but once you do, there's no arguing it. The people are desperate for something to believe in. There are too many beasts in those woods to make anyone feel safe for long."

Sakura remembered the marks on Karin's body, the tattoos she endured and the meaning behind those lady saints, and shook her head. This was just a dream. It wasn't worth getting worked up over religion.

"You didn't strike me as the God fearing kind of man, Hiruzen Sarutobi. What are you doing bothering with me?" The old man pocketed the picture and pulled out his pipe. Sakura glared but he just laughed and lit it anyway. 

"With or without a sainthood, I am here for you because you saved my life and you're the only person worth my time at the moment. My terrible family is plotting a way to kill me as we speak, but you knew that, didn't you?"

"I knew someone deliberately infected you with the madness, yes, but I didn't know it was your family. I'm sorry." The old man deflated a little bit and Sakura saw his age. 

"My son is blind by love. He married a woman who was both worried and cruel, but she was bred for that. Her family is the one that has poisoned my progeny against me. Not even my grandson will weep for my passing."

Sakura turned and looked out the window into the city, feeling guilty and foolish for being as moody as she was. They were both distracted by the sound of a startled crowd and angry hoofbeats. The royal hunting party was in the streets again, heading for the Monarch Woods with whoops and laughter. Sakura grimaced.

"They have a guide now, one who shows them the safe way between trees and wolves," Hiruzen Sarutobi commented before blowing out a trail of smoke. "They've been at it for days like this. The crazy Tsarevich doesn't think himself mortal, or wants to kill himself before the ball." When Sakura looked back at the old man he was watching her. She stiffened. 

"What?"

"Hinata said you were close with the boy. I thought you would show more of a reaction." She narrowed her eyes. 

"He'll be fine. He's a kid, but he can handle himself in the woods." The Monkey King took another pull from his pipe before exhaling. 

"I wasn't referring to the wolves in fur, but rather the wolves in robes. The politics have stuck to him, it seems. He's become a favorite of the guard, and they're inviting him into the palace to work in uniform."

"And that is bad because…?"

The monkey King shook his head and blew more smoke, not intending to explain it for her. Sakura huffed and turned back to the window, tapping her fingers against the glass. She was used to odd riddles and cryptic, misleading answers thanks to Sai. Her fingers stilled against the glass. 

"Hey," she spoke up, earning the old man's attention, "Did there used to be a castle under the woods or somewhere close by that was destroyed a while ago?"

"You're not talking about that legend, are you? That is why they are called the Monarch Woods, or so claimed my father. Hundreds of years ago, an old bloodline perished there, but no one can prove that since it's overrun with wolves and other hostile beasts."

Sakura said nothing for a while and the two stood together in that silence, comforted by it until a new figure walked in on them. Sakura blinked and straightened up when Hinata removed her hood and smiled politely at the pair before bowing slightly.

"I was hoping I would find you here again," she said looking at Sakura, "I was looking for you." Beside her, Hiruzen Sarutobi laughed into his smoke. Sakura glared at him out of the corner of her eye but didn't say anything to admonish him. She turned back to look at Hinata. 

"You were looking for me?" The pretty pale girl nodded. 

"Actually, it's other people, but I would like to talk to you too. Um, first my cousin wanted to know where he could find you, but wouldn't tell me why. May I tell him where he can find you?" Sakura shrugged. 

"Sure, why not? Anything else?"

"Kiba wanted to know why you ran away." Sakura stiffened and fought back the glare. 

"Ah, I suppose he would. He didn't try tracking me down himself, so I thought he forgot. There was… no reason in particular. It was just time to move on for me. I was needed elsewhere." Hinata nodded. 

"I will tell him that, but only if you tell me the real reason," She smiled knowingly, "You're not the type of person to leave friends on their sick beds. Something else made you leave."

Hiruzen Sarutobi chuckled before taking a step away. He was still close enough to listen, but not in an intruding manner.

"How do I know you won't tell Kiba yourself? You don't seem like the type that keeps too many secrets." Hinata only smiled. 

"Then that is fortunate," She let her smile slide away before speaking again, "It wouldn't happen to have anything to do with his older sister, would it?"

Sakura shrugged, not willing to say anything. Hinata giggled quietly into her hand. It seemed like Sakura's silence was answer enough.

"Ah, I never got the talk from her, but she's given it to others. Kiba never liked me in that sort of manner, so I wasn't a threat, but her protectiveness is legendary. I couldn't see her approving of someone who didn't worship the ground he walks on."

"That's healthy," Sakura muttered under her breath, being clearly sarcastic. Hanata chuckled again, and Sakura noted how cute it sounded.

"I won't tell him the truth then, but he will come for you sooner or later looking for the truth himself."

And there was honesty in her voice. She knew that Kiba would come on his own and Sakura was left with no other option but to believe the pale eyed girl. Sakura couldn't help but respect that assurance.

"He hasn't tried looking for me so far, what makes you think he'll try coming for me at all?"

"Because I know Kiba…he's as loyal as a dog. He would never abandon a friend. If I had to guess, he thinks you abandoned him." Sakura closed her eyes, hating the words on her lips. 

"I kind of did."

"Because you thought you were protecting him." Sakura opened her eyes and smirked at the heiress. 

"You are terribly perceptive for such a mousy girl who no one believes in." Hinata didn't flinch at the comment, but smiled honestly. 

"No one thinks to suspect the quiet ones," she giggled, "You're quite amazing yourself. I would have never assumed you were a saint when we first met. Avenging angel, maybe, but healer and miracle worker? What a marvel you must be," Hinata's eyes took on a thoughtful softness before she shook her head and laughed at something in her own mind, "That's it, I can't take it anymore. You have to come."

"Pardon?" Sakura didn't follow.

"I lied a little bit," Hinata stepped forward and grabbed Sakura's hands and held them in her own, "I think my cousin wanted to ask you to the ball as his date, but I'm going to beat him to it. I would very much appreciate it if you could accompany me as my friend to the ball. I won't be nearly as petrified of all the other women if you're there."

"I have a hard time believing you could ever be so humbled," Sakura murmured, feeling her cheeks flush from the praise, "You're quite forward enough on your own, and substantially brave."

Hinata's eyes were pleading, and Sakura turned to Hiruzen Sarutobi for help, but the old man was smiling and in the honest sort of way that old people smiled when looking at things they genuinely cared about. He caught her eye and chuckled.

"And here I thought," he breathed, expelling a soft tendril of smoke, "That my savior would be on my arm that evening. Sakura, you already promised you would be this old man's strength." Sakura made a face that looked like a cross between a wince and a smile. 

"Sorry," she apologized. "I was just barely talked into it too." Hinata's shoulders fell in disappointment. 

"Ah, I see. I was too late." She looked up with a spark of hope left, "Will you at least prepare for the ball with me? You can have your dress run over and my maids will do your hair. Hiruzen Sarutobi is a friend to our house, he can pick you up when you are done."

Sarutobi gave her a look like he wondered if she even had a dress, but Sakura waved it away. All she had to do was dream one up. It sounded like Hinata really wanted a friend, and if there was one thing Sakura was weak against, it was lonely people. That had always been something she caved to, especially with girls like Karin and Ami. She knew it was a scary thing to be alone, to feel like you were abandoned. Something like guilt settled in Sakura's stomach when she thought of Sai and Kimimaro. Turning back to Hinata, she patted the girl's hands before dropping them. 

"I think I can do that, but there are other things I must see to before that date, and you'll have to tell Neji. I wouldn't want him wasting the trip."

Sakura decided she liked the company of Hinata. Unlike Karin and Ami, Hinata was a sweet, soft girl who cowered easily. While she had a dedicated mind that most people overlooked when they saw her, Hinata was not like Hana or Konan in the realms of authority. She wielded power quietly, lest she alert someone to it and lose it.

Catching Sakura staring at her, Hinata smiled brightly.

Later, Hungry trotted on the heels of her shadow as she climbed across the beams and off the balconies onto the roof of the church. Her wolf companion whined when she made like a spider up the turrets and onto the roof where he couldn't follow. It was late and her cycle was nearly through. She didn't have much time left before she woke up again.

"Kimimaro."

She had never tried summoning him so boldly. This wasn't a cry of panic or desperation. She didn't need him, but she wanted him. She looked to the skies, straining to see a breeze of ice or flurry of snow, but when she turned to look back he was already there, waiting.

"You called me." She didn't miss the note of wonder in his tone. 

"I wanted to speak with you. Is that so unbelievable?"

"I did not…expect it," he murmured, taking a hesitant step closer, toes balanced in line with the spine of the church roof, "What do you need of me?"

Sakura paused for a moment to consider their predicament. He seemed little to no different from the last time she saw him and the last time she spoke with him. There was little change to him as a person, he still wore the imperial era uniform with the polished knee high boots and dueling trousers tucked under the braided jacket with two dozen gleaming buttons traced across his breast. She had seen so many men in uniform, it was getting hard to tell them apart in spite of their altercations to the uniform, but Kimimaro never carried a saber with him, and that stood out. His body was a saber, poised and lethal and primal. It was an old weapon, older than steel and bronze. How long had he carried a sword made of bone? How long since he didn't need to.

There was a breeze and it was cold against Sakura's face, tossing her hair into her eyes and turning her cheeks red. She brushed the simple strands away, back against her skull and behind her ear with the rest of her hair. Though Kimimaro's hair fell just past his shoulders in bleached white curtains, it didn't move when the wind passed through him.

Sakura felt her lips tug with the words in her throat.

"Are you lonely?" He blinked, not having expected the question. His face contorted mildly with confusion before settling back into a mask. 

"I…what?"

"Are you lonely? It's a question I'm asking because I want to know. You're fighting with Sai, and I saw what you did to him…what you do to him every time he pulls himself back together out of smoke." He stiffened, eyes frosting over and narrowing. "I should have been mad, I should have tried to fight you, but I didn't want to. I…couldn't be angry with you for what you did because I understood it to an extent. You're lonely aren't you?"

"How could you have known about the Sigh of Dejection? Do you know where he slumbers?" Sakura ignored the question and advanced a step. 

"Sai was lonely too, are you?"

Kimimaro didn't move as Sakura took another step, and then another. She was a yard away when he drew his bone sword and waved it in front of him. Sakura stopped, but only for a moment before she took those last two steps to stop in front of him. She could see the red paint under his lashes and the pale hairs of his eyebrows. Every inch of him was in stark detail. His eyes narrowed, but she didn't look away.

"It's okay, you know."

She didn't say anything more, and she didn't move after that. He wasn't like Karin, he wouldn't cry or explode on her, but he was suffering the same wounds. She could see it in the way his shoulders sagged, the way his jaw clenched, the way his hands tensed into hard knuckles. Sai showed it in different ways, but Sakura was sure of it. They were abandoned for too long to not be lonely. When was the last time someone came into their world? When was the last time they spoke to someone new? This curse torments more than just her.

She reached for his hand and he didn't pull away, so she just held it. He looked down at where her skin touched his and she ran a thumb over his knuckle, reassuring him of her presence. He didn't look her in the face again, and the sun set, pulling down the heavens and throwing out a blanket of stars across the sky. He watched her hand and she waited, knowing it was a lot for him.

Down below, Hungry howled and Sakura suppressed a smile at the way Kimimaro jolted out of a self induced stupor. His eyes found hers and she watched his mouth turn down. She still smiled.

"You…" he began. His voice was unsure, unsteady, testing, "When this gate ends, will you take the Sigh of Dejection with you into the next world, the next Kingdom, the next Gate, the next bridge?"

"Yes. If that is something I can do, I will." She paused, allowing him time to digest her words, "And…you too, if you promise not to kill me."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to be dead, and you did start out as my enemy." Kimimaro leaned down and his face was marble as he glared at her. 

"Why me?" She knew what he was asking and didn't dare play another joke on him. Instead, she just shrugged her shoulders. 

"Why not? If you were willing, I would want to be your friend, same with Sai. I don't know what it means or if I can, but I'll take you both with me if that's what you want." He grabbed her wrist hard enough that it hurt. Sakura winced, but didn't fight back when he yanked her closer. 

"Why?" he asked again, this time with greater emphasis. Sakura swallowed, searching for the words he would understand. 

"Because, you shouldn't have to be alone. That's not something anyone should have to endure forever."

His grip was still tight.

"Because I don't want you to be alone."

"You're lucky you have such a nice figure, with all the bandages and braces you have to cover up," Ami sighed, stalking ahead of the trio with her camera bag and tripod tucked under her shoulder. The tiny Japanese girl glanced back over at her pink haired friend and then muttered something about unfair genetics before picking up her pace.

"She's just jealous because you're sexy," Karin supplied dryly, walking alongside Sakura.

Sakura didn't need crutches or a brace anymore, but after three minutes of straight walking, a limp started to develop on her left side, so she had to slow her pace and take it easy when she went exploring with her friends. The three of them were headed to an old abandoned apple orchard that wasn't too far from where Sakura's property ran out. It was secluded and out of the way, so they didn't have to worry about people walking in on them during their shoot. Still, Sakura's grandmother owned close to thirty acres, making it a decent hour long walk at the pace she was setting.

"I'm sorry," Sakura breathed, feeling a crown of sweat break out along her hairline in spite of the crisp air. It was October and most people needed jackets. "But I need to take a break again."

Karin was quick to lead Sakura over to a tree stump but Ami grumbled about stopping again.

"Ease up," Karin drawled, "We have plenty of daylight, and she is one of your models, so take care of her."

"You're one of the models, too," Sakura said, looking up at Karin. "If the pair of you want to go on ahead and set up, I'll be right behind you. I know where to go." Ami opened her mouth to agree but Karin bit in with a testy refusal before the shorter girl could get a word out. 

"No way! If you pass out or faint no one would know. You look like a ghost as it is. I'm not leaving you!"

Sakura spared Ami a sympathetic look.

"Fine," Ami said. "You two stay together, I'm going to go set up. I need to find the right setting with this light anyway. Catch up when you can."

The pair nodded as Ami turned and picked her way over to the orchard on her own. Once she was out of earshot Karin wheeled on Sakura. 

"You look like shit."

"Thanks," she dryly commented, "And I put so much effort into this outfit too."

"I didn't mean it like that and you know it." Karin rolled her eyes.

The pair of them were dressed up as witches for a photo shoot on Ami's budding fashion blog. Karin had her hair up in high victory curls and rocked a curve hugging black and silver wiggle dress with spider jewelry. She looked like a cross between a 1950's housewife and a vampire vixen with a witch hat and broom as props.

Sakura's get up was a bit more traditional with a slimming black, high collar long sleeve tucked into a full skirt of black tool that hid her shoes. Her nails had been painted the same shade of plum red as her lips. Paired against her pale skin, the look was dark and sultry. Picking up her witch hat, Sakura stood and breathed out. 

"Okay, I'm ready again. No more shit feeling."

"That's good because there's no place to take a shit out here that's sanitary." Karin hummed low under her breath. 

Sakura tried not to laugh as she hobbled out after her friend.

An hour later, the pair were posing under the withered apple trees in the abandoned orchard. The trees were a sickly black color with twisted branches that reached like dead fingers for the earth. A few years back, a fungus killed off the whole orchard and no one had bothered to touch it since, even though there were a handful of trees that still bore perfectly good fruit. Sakura stood under one of them with her hands reaching for an apple colored as red as sin. Slowly she reached for it with her mouth and Ami captured the shot.

Another forty five minutes later and the pair were tired enough to pull out a blanket and sit down for lunch. The only thing Karin didn't want to talk about was boys, or rather, one boy in particular, so that was what Ami decided to pick up the topic with.

"No one, I swear," Sakura laughed before biting into her apple. Juice ran down her chin as strong as cider and she couldn't help but moan a little bit in pleasure. This was the best time for apples in New York.

Karin just rolled over on to her back and tossed her fruit up in the air, catching it like a ball.

"I thought there were new guys working at the pizza joint. Doesn't that make Suigetsu and Juugo more free?"

"Dad hired a pair of twins and some fat high-schooler dude to help out, but that's because we've been understaffed for a while now and the boys need to be able to rotate more with school and stuff. They're both part time students but that doesn't make them…a topic."

"What about that guy at the Orchard?" Ami asked, eyeing Sakura. Karin sat up fast with a wicked gleam in her eye.

"Yeah, Sakura, that guy…" the redhead drawled, "What's up with that? Last time I was there he  _ totally _ asked for you." Ami gasped like they had made some huge discovery and this time it was Sakura's turn to roll her eyes.

"Still nothing, girls. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not…" She thought of Sasori and felt a pinch in her chest, "I'm not interested right now. I just want to be my own for a while."

"When was the last time you had a friendly-menly on your arm?" Ami asked.

The question stung more than it should. To hide the tearing in her chest cavity, Sakura reached for her water bottle and swallowed down the contents along with her anguish before breathing deep and fastening on a smile. 

"Not since my dreams, ladies, not since my dreams."

Sakura broke the surface of the bath and slipped out of the waters in a single, unbroken motion that left her on the high steps surrounded by steam. She blinked a few times, scattering the drops that clung to her lashes. She was in a large marble bath with no one else and nothing but the water on her skin to keep her modest.

Sakura raked her nails through her hair and looked around for a robe or towel. She found both close by, draped over a stone bench. Patting herself down, she made herself modest and headed to the closest door. It led to a room decorated in a dated, oriental style that tipped her off to her current location.

"I'm in the Hyuga house," Sakura mused aloud, twisting her hair up into a bun she knotted and let slouch against her neck.

She turned to look towards the windows and saw one was dimmed by a cloud of gray and black. No, not a cloud. It was smoke outside her window, rolling and tumbling in place. Sakura hurried to the window to open it and let the apparition enter.

Sai manifested a moment later, dressed impeccably well in his uniform regalia with a saber strapped to his side. His posture seemed tired at first, but once he collected himself into a solid body, he filled out and turned to acknowledge her with a deep dipping of the head.

"Sakura. I have finally made it." When he raised his head, his bangs caught in his lashes but he didn't brush them away. Instead, he lowered his lids a fraction and continued speaking. "And I believe it is to you that I have to thank."

"He really let you go then. I'm glad," She pulled the collar of her robe tighter, hiding her neck, "Did he tell you why?"

"You intend to take him into the next kingdom along with myself, in spite of my warnings," Sai closed his eyes and Sakura could tell he was trying to school his features into stone before speaking again, "It is a mistake to trust the hand of a snake."

"Snakes don't have hands."

"Which is why you shouldn't trust them when you run into them."

"It doesn't look like it's anything to worry about just yet. I tried getting to the obelisk and was nearly torn to shreds. I almost died, and I know I won't have any more luck the next time I try."

From the look that crossed Sai's face, he remembered her cries for help, the ones he couldn't get to. Sakura didn't want to linger on it, so she crossed her arms over her chest and turned towards the vanity where a line of combs and brushes were laid out in front of the face paints caught in tiny metal boxes. She sat down and pulled out a comb to run through her hair till the knots were free and her tips mostly dry. Sai lingered still.

"Have a lot of people died inside the Obelisk?" she asked at last.

"Yes."

"How many?" She couldn't see him, but he still turned away from her. 

"All but two, and they are the actors you meet. Both survivors were women and they did not beat this curse, but rather escaped it." Sakura stopped brushing. 

"How?" Was such a thing possible?

"Do you remember the lapse of time between the last kingdom and this gate?" When she nodded he continued, "That is not typical of the curse, but rather a side effect of the menstrual cycle of women. It is a sacred time where the dark god must bow his head and let the maybe mother have her peace." In addition to being mildly grossed out, Sakura was confused. 

"But it was for a whole month." Sai paced behind her. 

"Yes, the curse is cautious in between transitions when it comes to women. The two women who escaped the curse did so because they became pregnant and gave birth to children. It is an ancient magic that predates even the darkness, and not even the serpent god can stand against it. This has only happened twice, but on both occasions the women were freed from the curse as it moved on to their offspring." Sakura felt a sickness grow inside of her. 

"And what happened to the babies?"

"Naturally, they both died." The sickness popped like a balloon and coated the entirety of her insides. 

"Naturally," she echoed dully.

If she wanted to, she could escape this death trap by sacrificing her first born. Maybe it was better that Sai kept this secret from her, because selfishly she wanted a way out, or a piece of her did at least. A part of her didn't want to be torn apart by dogs in her sleep. But to offer up a child, knowingly?

She set the brush down and stared at herself in the mirror. She imagined the gold pins that coiled her hair into a tight bun and held it. In her fingers, a subtle tiara of obsidian rose up along the trail of pins, accenting the pins nicely. The woman that stared back at her in the mirror was a queen who had declawed a serpent, crushed a kingdom, and outran the devil's dogs with the blood of a saint rushing through her veins. She was everything she believed to be, and she would be more. She would be the warmonger, the conqueror, and the nightmare that devoured this curse at the end and the beginning.

There was a knock at the door and Sai startled. 

"It's just the maid here to help me dress. Go find Kimimaro for me and tell him we, the three of us, are going to storm the Obelisk together, tonight." Sakura stood and turned to face Sai fully, her head held high, "I will not run from this thing. I will find its heart and obliterate it."

He was fleeting smoke as the maid let herself in, bowing lowly before shutting the door behind her. Sakura thought briefly about dismissing the maid and running straight for the Obelisk, but thought of Hinata and the beautiful ballroom with antique chandeliers and delicate Russian waltzes, and her resolve melted. After the dancing.

"Let us decorate your face and style your hair, first," the maid meekly stated with her eyes still downcast, "To avoid dirtying the dress."

"You can leave my hair as it is, but please…"

Sakura gestured to the vanity and sat. The maid came over and dipped her brush in the deep red paint that was as dark as wine. Sakura lifted her chin and accepted the color on her lips until it was evenly applied. The maid pinched a bit of red between her fingers and then smeared it into the skin above her cheekbones.

"No, your eyes. Please close them."

Sakura did as she was told and didn't even flinch as the black paint was drawn across her lids. The maid blew them dry and then reached for a different brush. Probably to paint the eyeshadow on after the liner-

Sakura's eyes snapped open just in time to see the dagger sail down to her face. Thinking fast, she rolled out of the way and kicked off the floor and into a fighting stance as the maid tumbled. The lightning in her heart cavity was still screaming 'danger,' to her. That's why Sakura noticed the pale hair and paler complexion. This maid was familiar. 

"You're from the tribe that tried to kidnap Hinata." Figures that the one animal totem she ruled out as a threat was the one she was dealing with the most.

"How perceptive, whore saint," the woman bit, swinging her dagger around.

"No need to get nasty," Sakura hummed, pulling a dagger out of thin air from behind her back. Hers was longer and would be stronger. She forged her dream blades in Damascus steel. "You think I'm a threat now?"

"You plan to eliminate the madness and the wolves we've worked so hard to infect. We can't allow that so close to the Tsarevich's birthday celebration. Tonight should have been a test round, but…" She smiled wickedly, "But you needed to be taken care of first."

"How flattering," Sakura growled, swinging her blade back and circling the woman, "When I'm done with you I'll eliminate the mad wolves."

They pause in their circling, eyes still locked.

"You can't, not on your own."

Sakura leapt first, swinging aggressively and following with a second knife that came from nowhere. The hare woman didn't see it coming and caught it with her forearm, painting it red. Sakura didn't relent and pressed the advantage, swinging swipe after swipe without pause, because she didn't need to. She didn't tire in this dream world.

The woman jumped back and Sakura threw one of her knives, watching as it embedded deep in the wall next to the maid's head. Sakura shook her remaining knife and several smaller knives slipped free. She wasn't scared this time. She wasn't frozen, and she intended to use every advantage available to her. She tossed one after the other, hitting close but not close enough.

The maid ran behind the bed and Sakura gave chase. Leaping over the sheets Sakura sailed clear and landed too close to the woman with two new knives. Sakura barely managed to twist out of the way and avoid the swipes before drawing her own dagger up, and just like in the movies, it slowed down as her mind processed things at hyper speed, seeing all the details of her stroke across the chest and into the right shoulder. The hare woman stumbled in pain, and that's when Sakura moved.

Too quick to see, the woman was gone from this world, a collar of red around her neck, seeping and staining as she fell. A handful of spray reached her, but it wasn't enough to make her wince or even turn away. It had been too easy. The fight was one thing, but the kill came too naturally.

As if waking from a dream, Sakura gasped and staggered back. The floor was liberally stained and her hand shook. She dropped her dagger and turned away, sitting down at her vanity, unable to look at the conquering queen she had named herself earlier. Damn if she still wasn't human.

Closing her eyes, she replayed the fight in her head and rolled over the maid's mindless words. The wolves were infested because of the hare tribe…and somehow they wanted to use them to attack the capitol. There were more of them, and they were coming for the city because Sakura couldn't stop the wolves on her own.

She looked up when she heard running and scratching outside her door. There was shouting and then a scuffle. Sakura pulled out the dagger from before, not minding how it was still stained with cold blood, and held it level with her eyes.

The door burst open and Hungry bolted in, falling at her feet and laying down on her feet while kicking his legs in the air, wanting pets. Kiba was in the doorway with Neji and both looked like they just forgot about whatever they had been fighting about. Both were in uniform, but while this was normal for Neji, Sakura had never seen Kiba dressed in black and red regalia of the Krepost guard.

"I told you she was in trouble. Hungry wasn't skittish for nothing!" Kiba shouted, glaring at Neji who looked just as sullen.

"Who was it?" the Hyuga asked, stepping forward to see around her bed. He didn't even wince when he saw the pale hair and lifeless eyes. "Ah, she's not one of ours. Assassin?"

"From the same people who tried kidnapping Hinata," Sakura supplied, letting her dagger drop to her side, limp in her hand. She bent down to rub Hungry's belly and then looked up at Kiba, noticing how he looked like he was in silent pain. "She said it was her tribe, the hare tribe that spread the madness to the wolves. They plan on using the wolves to attack the city people."

"But they can't get in a walled city," Kiba said, still not meeting her eyes but looking at her.

"They don't need to. They just need to kill enough for the people to start an uprising. The wolf tribe will be martyred first, and then the people will riot. That is all the Tsarevich needs right now. Then we're sealed in."

"We can't let that happen then," Sakura guessed, knowing what Neji was imagining. This wasn't how she imagined things going, but it looked like the party was officially crossed off her things to do. This wolf situation needed to be dealt with ASAP.

Without another word, Sakura disappeared behind the changing screen at the end of the room and threw her bloodstained rob over the top of the fold. She heard Neji's breathy gasp and felt the one Kiba held between his teeth. She dreamed up a pair of black tights tucked into blacker boots and a black long sleeve to match. Under her fingers she spun the gold detail design across her chest and when she opened her eyes the matching cloak was there. Knee length and black, it was heavy with the gold embroidery that made it extraordinary.

When she stepped out, she was tugging on the dark gloves with windows cut into the back for lace to peek through. 

"This will end tonight. I have two associates I'm heading out with in the hour. Rally what you can and meet me if you wish to."

She crossed the room to the door but was stopped when Kiba latched on her arm. She turned to look at him sharply but his look was just as firm. 

"I have to talk to you first."

"Kiba."

"It can't wait," he stressed, tugging her closer as Neji moved to find his men, glaring at the Wolf tribesman over his shoulder. Kiba didn't seem concerned with the Hyuga's opinion of him. As soon as Neji was out of earshot Kiba pressed on. 

"Why did you leave me?" It wasn't even subtle, the way he phrased it made his intentions clear. 

"Because it was time to move on. You were becoming too attached and I was bound to go my own way eventually."

"But you didn't even say goodbye. I woke up and Hana said you took off as soon as Akamaru dragged me back, but I know that's not true, because you were the one who bandaged me and gave me the same transfusion as the people in the church." He grabbed her wrists and it was almost painful when he tugged her closer, "You weren't there when I woke up and I couldn't reach you. What's the real reason, and don't feed me more lies."

"So I fixed you up, but I still didn't feel like staying and that's not a lie, and you were too attached, that's not a lie either." Sakura tried to keep her tone casual. 

He didn't let her finish, slamming his lips against hers and pressing her up against the wall until every angle of him knew every angle of her. He took all her breath into himself, and when he parted, they were both panting like weary dogs for air.

"Not…too…attached," he breathed bending his face down into her neck. He nipped at the exposed skin just below her ear and Sakura pulled away, "I love you, Sakura."

"Kiba," she protested, feeling tired, "Don't do it." It was just like how Hana said and nothing like what it felt like when Sasori kissed her. Sasori had never been so forceful or even so physically passionate, but there was a heat there that she lacked between herself and Kiba. She looked up and shook her head subtly, "Don't fall in love with me. I'll be gone for good soon."

"You could stay with me forever, though. I'll make a space for you in this world. I'll travel with you wherever you want to go, and keep you safe forever. It can't be anyone else, and I can't change this. I…I don't know how to stop it anymore. Please," he gasped. She could feel his hands tremble. "Don't leave."

And as unspoken as it was she heard what he didn't say.

'I don't want to be alone.'

What a beautiful, royal mess. She reached out to pat the top of his head and he grabbed her wrist and kissed her palm, crying silently into it and washing her hand with his salt. 

"I'll follow you. No matter where," he whispered into her hand.

"I can't love you."

"I don't care. I can't leave you. Don't…go where I can't follow anymore, and I'll be your loyal hound."

He was taller than her, a man with broad shoulders and lean muscles earned by experience, but in front of her now, he was just a boy too afraid of being left alone to look up. She curled a stray hair behind his ear and he leaned into the touch like a child would. She cared for him, but it wasn't the same. 

"I loved a man once, and I don't think I ever properly told him that before he died," Kiba stilled under her touch, "I held him as he died, and kissed him as a last request, and since then, I haven't kissed a man since. I can't return your feelings. You're following a shadow into the darkness."

She slipped out of his hold and followed after Neji, swinging her cloak up around her shoulders and slipping her arms through the slits.

This dream would last twice as long, Sakura knew. She was so much deeper into it that she guessed she could spend another twenty hours inside and not need to wake. Still, she wanted this to be over as soon as possible. Her heart was bleeding with every step she took carrying Kiba's confession. She prayed that what Hana said about forever wasn't true, that Kiba wasn't set on her as a mate for eternity or until death like the wolves of their tribe.

Kiba followed close behind, joined by Akamaru and Hungry. Together, the pair approached the gates leading to the outer ring where Neji stood with half a dozen armed men and Shizune. Sakura looked to the woman with a confused expression but the lady doctor just smiled and held up the knives strapped to her forearm. 

"I will do my part. These men have already been vaccinated with the blood you donated to the church. Even if they are bit they will not go mad."

"Excellent," Sakura breathed, looking over the guard. One winked back at her, and she recognized it as the guard from the time she rode back in the Tsarevich's carriage. Kagami was his name. He was grinning at her while the rest of his men looked away or blushed or did both. "Are we waiting on someone?"

"Not anymore," a grouchy old voice cut in from behind her. Sakura spun in surprise and gasped at the sight of the old man. Hiruzen Sarutobi wore battle gauntlets and shin guards of silver, and across his leathered hide was etched a howling monkey. His armor looked exotic and dated, but she could tell it was well worn and had proven him well in a fight before.

"What are you doing here? It's going to be dangerous," Sakura countered.

"And I'm immune to the bite, same as those men. I figured it would be best to die a hero than an old man who's hated by his family.” At his side, he carried a Chinese polearm that he picked up and twirled expertly. The halberd sang as it cut the air and Akamaru and Hungry barked in excitement. The old man was still lethal.

"Ah, then will you lead us now, Krasivaya?" The dark haired guard asked in a laugh. Krasivaya was Russian for beauty. Kiba growled low in his chest, but didn't glare or utter his grievance to her, so she ignored him and mounted the steed that waited for her. The rest of them mounted as well and turned to face her. It was nearly dusk, they had only a few hours of sun left before the darkness gave the advantage to the wolves.

Without another word, Sakura led her small army out of the inner city, into the outer ring, and past the gates to Krepost with frightening ease. There were no slackers in her troop. She could feel it like truth ringing in her bones. This time, things would be different. This time, they would win.

They ran their horses into the forest between trees, even when it got dense they never slowed to a walk, only a trot, and that was until things cleared up, and then it was a canter again. It was no use trying to conserve their energy. The horses would not be crossing over into the wolf territory with them. If Hungry wouldn't go with her last time, the horses wouldn't this time. They planned not to even bother trying.

Sakura felt the dream world around her swirl and pulse in agitation. It knew it was being deepened and slowed, and somehow it knew that things were going to end tonight, one way or the other.

"Hold," Neji called, feeling his mount resist beneath him. He grappled with the reigns and Kiba took this as a sign to dismount. Sarutobi and Sakura did the same, followed by Shizune. Kagami and Neji's men all dismounted as a single unit, no one before the other.

Beside them Akamaru and Hungry had their hackles up and were braced low against the earth with narrowed eyes set in the direction of the den. Hungry was still smaller than Akamaru, but he had grown so much and now outweighed the heaviest of Great Danes. Being as small as she was, he was now large enough to mount.

She reached out and curled her fingers into his fur and he leaned in closer to her, but didn't take his eyes off the territory line.

"We go together."

Beneath her cloak, she felt the hard scrimshaw of her guns strapped across her back. There were plenty of knives too, decorating the inside of the cloak and weighing it down, even though she guessed she could now conjure during the heat of a fight with all the courage in her veins.

Kiba moved first, and Sakura was the one who followed. Everyone else fell into line behind them.

Things were different from the last time Sakura visited. The madness had taken deep root and the whole woods stank with it. There were wolves heaving on their sides, seeing nothing and frothing at the mouth while others stalked them behind the tree line. It made some of the soldiers choke and Shizune was at Sakura's side, needle thin daggers between her knuckles.

"It's worse."

Sakura stopped and narrowed her eyes at a figure off to the side. She pointed to it and Shizune grimaced. Kiba growled when he recognized it as well.

"And it looks like things could go to hell fast," Sarutobi readjusted his pole weapon, "They've been feasting on hand delivered man flesh. The Hare tribe was thinking this through. Mad wolves with a taste for humans… of course that would bring chaos."

"Then it must truly end tonight," Kiba whispered in a voice so low Sakura didn't know if she heard it.

The first wolf came snarling from between the trees, shoulders hunched and muzzle stained. Kagami didn't waste any time and quickly took aim and shot the beast between the eyes, earning a chorus of appreciative whistles from his men as he quickly reloaded his single shot. Sakura eyed his movements and counted to ten and then twelve until he was done reloading. Too long. No one would get that chance again.

More wolves came out, and two of them attacked the fallen dog with hungry mouths, blind to their own cannibalism. They didn't even notice when Sarutobi raised his halberd, and didn't even flinch when he brought it down upon their necks.

Sakura pressed the group onwards, closer to the clearing where the rest of the wolves waited around the stone den. Nothing else attacked them, but she could feel the eyes, tracking, (stalking), them. The veins of Obsidian grew thicker and more common until the trees stopped, leaving them on the edge of the heart of their den. Hungry shook with the same fear that made Akamaru shiver. Sakura reached out to reassure her furry friend. He leaned into her touch, less frightened now.

"We will bring them all down," she said out loud.

Then at once, the fur and fangs came out from the trees towards them. Sakura watched as the first wave fell like dead weight as each soldier unloaded his gun into the fray. Some stopped to reload while their partners took up defensive stances with their sabers. More came and Sakura cursed, knowing they would have to meet them head on when a pair of wolves dropped at the sound of guns. Sakura whirled and looked up to see Sai and Kimimaro in the trees, picking off the wolves with sniper honed skill. They nodded to her and she grinned wide.

Rolling off her own gun, she took another wolf down with a lead shot through the eye socket, straight to the brain. She tossed her gun behind her and a soldier under Kagami picked it up and began to reload it as she took aim with her second. There was more chaos this time around as mad dogs tore at the flesh of their own fallen and ran in zigzag patterns without direction. They were wild and frightening, but if you weren't afraid, they were easier to pick off.

Empty of ammunition, Sakura dropped her last gun and ran out alongside Sarutobi with her own saber drawn. She didn't have the same reach as him, but she vaulted and kicked at the air before landing behind a wolf and slashing at it's back haunches. It buckled and Sarutobi took out its howling head. She threw a volley of knives, and half of them found their purchase in a vital bundle of wolf flesh.

Together, Akamaru and Hungry downed a single wolf and Kiba wasn't far behind with the claws in his hands tearing wolf flesh without prejudice. More shots rang out, but a single wolf managed to break into Kagami's line of shooters and bite down on the shoulder of a guard until Kagami and two other guards turned him into a pincushion. Shizune held her own, moving and tossing her knives with practiced ease, too fast to be caught.

"Sakura," Kiba shouted over the noise. She looked up and saw that he was pointing to the stone den where a hulking black monster perched. His face was scarred, but his body was the size of a small elephant. Larger than Akamaru by a deal, Sakura recognized the grandfather wolf who didn't age. His muzzle was dripping with flesh and blood. From his jaws dangled the skin of a human arm and Sakura wanted to retch at the sight.

"No peace until that one is dead," Sarutobi yelled, sounding like he was almost enjoying himself.

Sakura growled out a curse, yanking her saber free from the husk of another dead wolf. So many were fallen, only a handful could possibly remain.

"Neji," She shouted, turning and sprinting backwards until she was beside the youth who had stained his uniform with blood. He looked up at her with wide eyes paler than the rising moon. Somehow he didn't seem frightened, but steeled and hardened into focus. He drank in the sight of her.

"You will take the dog brat with you, and you will come back."

"Of course," she easily lied. Maybe he didn't believe her, because he stopped and turned to face her, his eyes narrowed. 

"You still owe me a dance when all of this is over. Don't die." She caught the freshly reloaded scrimshaw rifle he tossed at her with ease.

Sakura just nodded before sprinting off towards Kiba. Akamaru and Hungry followed on her heels. Together, the four of them scaled the side of the den with ease, finding purchase in the stone places where wolves had walked before them. Sakura pulled ahead, but it was Kiba who scaled the wall first and leapt atop to begin the charge. Akamaru was right beside him, and somewhere across the way, Kiba mounted his beast and together they raged against the monster.

This wolf, in spite of all the madness in him, was smarter than the rest. It reeled and shook his head out of reach, clawing out in retaliation before snapping his jaws at the air just behind their necks. He had a neck thicker than tires and coated in fur heavy enough to sink ships with. The first dagger Sakura threw at him caught in his fur, but found no purchase in his hide.

"Damn," she breathed, hating how her heart was racing faster and faster.

Kiba was shook off and thrown back towards her, rotating in mid air and landing on his feet. He laughed mirthlessly and wiped the bottom half of his lip with his thumb. A thin trail of blood smeared across his jaw. 

"What, did you think this was going to be easy?"

The wolf growled at them, digging his claws into the stone and marring them like dried clay. Sakura groaned at the show of power. She felt like the village girl who stared down a dragon all on her own. No, in that story it hadn't been a dragon, but rather a long serpent…a snake. Her mind triggered memories of Orochimaru and their fight in the dance hall, and she felt the dull burning in her gut that was her hate for him. She remembered how he buried a knife into Sasori's chest and that ember roared to life. Before it could die away, Sakura harnessed that anger and squeezed it into energy that blinded her to the fear.

She dropped her gun and turned her saber over to grab it with both hands. She screamed, charging with Hungry right on her side. Hungry leapt first, skirting just out of reach and distracting the large wolf for long enough for Sakura to get behind it and tear at its hind quarters where the hairless skin was thinnest. She drew blood, and she knew it hurt him, but his agitated cry was brief and not nearly as rewarding as she would have hoped. The wolf turned on her and snapped. Sakura rolled by and was caught as she leapt for the second time, knocked down onto the stone. She squeezed the anger in her tighter, and extracted the energy to roll out of the way and underneath the wolf, where it couldn't reach her.

Kiba and Akamaru attacked from the side, relentless and exhausting. Again and again, Sakura watched as their attempts fell to nought. She cursed too often, and soon lost the ability to conjure, the stress was so bad. From the heights, a bullet whizzed and struck the wolf just above his eye. The elephant wolf reeled and howled at the blood that spilled into his eye, blinding him partway.

Sakura saluted the trees, knowing Sai would get it. Kimimaro was busy spreading ice over the earth to trip up the wolves and freeze their paws to the stone until one of the guards could cut the hounds down. They were doing well down below, but this elephant wolf was another matter altogether.

"What do we do?" Sakura asked, feeling weak from something other than exhaustion. Kiba looked ready to pass out and sleep for the next few years. His face was read and he was breathing heavy.

"I don't know," he confessed wearily. "Nothing is working like it should, but I've never tried killing anything so large. His head is too well protected."

Sakura reached down and felt the whale bone exterior of her single shot Berdan rifle. She had one chance and the wolf had one good eye she could sink her lead into. But, like Kiba said, the monster wolf was too keen about protecting his eye. He was old, and he was smarter than the others, even if he was a little mad with the sickness.

From the way things looked, she needed a distraction, something to keep his head down. Kiba and Akamaru were too tired to keep running. It would have to be here and Hungry. A pistol would have been nice, but nothing came to her empty hand when she dreamed it up. She cursed quietly to herself once again, feeling like the shameful words were becoming too common in her mouth.

"Do you have any rope or wire we could use?" she asked Kiba. He shook his head but then paused. 

"Neji does, or one of his men does…but it's thin wire, how would you use it?" They were crouched behind a cluster of rocks and the elephant wolf didn't look like he was eager to flush them out for a fight again, so he just stalked. 

"I need to hold his head down so I can get a clear shot at his brain. He moves too much." Kiba nodded in understanding. 

"Got it, I'll be back with the wire." He took off and Akamaru followed after him. The sight of the two of them racing off must have triggered something, since the elephant wolf lunged at Sakura's cluster of rocks and broke half of them apart with just his paws. Sakura screamed as she felt the hot breath on her back. Sakura cried out as the debris crashed over her, some catching her legs till they gave out. She was pinned. The rubbled was in her way and the wolf was over her. Looming, ready to drop his jaws on her.

Sakura thought of Karin and her family, how they had been so nice to her. She thought of Ami, who she was just starting to get to know. She thought of her own mother, who although absent, was still her mother. She thought of a lot of things in a single second as the reality of her death crashed over her.

She was going to die. This was a nightmare, and it was going to kill her just like how it killed everyone else before her. She was going to die.

The wolf snarled and snapped his jaws down into flesh that cracked and bled like a punctured juice box. Rivers of blood came cascading out of his mouth as his jaw tightened and crushed the bones between his teeth. Sakura heard ribs snap and cried.

Her screams were screams of horror and not of pain, because the wolf hadn't gotten her. In his mouth hung the limp body of Hungry, who darted out to save her at the last minute. His eyes were dull and glassy. His happy tongue hung limp and there was nothing in him that would ever be alive again.

Sakura felt Sick as the wolf readjusted Hungry in his mouth and crunched down again, sending more blood onto Sakura's face.

She saw red.

There was bone in her hand and she screamed, shooting off a gold tipped round from her modernized repeating rifle. One after the other, six shots, all rapidly pumped and reloaded, sank into the elephant wolf's face. His eyes were blasted away and Sakura heard how his brain sunk under the piercing of her lead. She didn't know how she got the gun, or how it even existed in a time before it's invention, but nothing registered in her brain as the last mad wolf fell with Hungry still in his mouth.

She remembered little else.

Sai came up behind her and pulled her away from the mangled body. Kimimaro followed close behind, covering the scene in ice that blocked her vision. The others would be coming for her soon, they were close to the cliff face. She heard Sai say something to Kimimaro before she was lifted up between the both of them and dragged away, deeper into the den.

She saw the bodies and the bones but couldn't care any more or less for them.

They stopped at the base of the Obelisk as it hummed with life.

Sakura heard more words from either of them, but they didn't make sense. She was either too traumatized or too close to the power source to hear anything clearly.

Without waiting for clarification, she grabbed their two wrists and dragged them into the black tower and out of the Gate.

People were screaming for her and she heard her name, even as she passed over the glowing threshold into the next realm.

_ "Sakura!" _

* * *

_ "Do not look for my heart any more; the beasts have eaten it." _

_ — Charles Baudelaire, Flowers of Evil _

* * *

Her body was a new creation when she awoke. The flesh that had been marred in the fight was perfectly smooth, and even the old, aged bruises and delicate pink scars down her back were all gone. If they had been from anywhere else, they would have lingered on for the rest of her life, she summarized, but these were special wounds from a special place.

Sakura stood in front of her mirror and beheld her body, hating how her skin was perfect. All her scars, all the testimonies to her bravery and the sacrifice of others...gone. 

One day, would they also be forgotten?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the second half of the first chapter


	3. Monarch City

~~ Bonus (Technically Non Canon) Side Story  ~~

**Obelisk:**

###  Monarch City

* * *

"You can carry a knife and still trust everyone. Carry it in your mouth. Every Time you open it, We await the sharpening noise of worship. Cry out into the darkness The sermon that doesn't cease: You cannot be abandoned. You can only be released. "

-Church of the Broken Axe Handle,    
by Derrick Brown

* * *

The world was a gallery of paintings all in muted colors. Each one was just as drab as the last, never ending, never changing, just like his days. By now, he had come to recognize the pattern and had a certain level of precognition in how his days would roll out with little variation from his predictions.

It was stifling and it was unfair, considering the divine grace of God on his lineage and his birth into one of the most powerful families in the edges of the world curled up under his fingers when he brushed his hands by. People and places were just things for him to play with.

It was the chilling season when one of his men found him in the sanctuary, standing feet from the base of a marble likeness of the saint Paul. The younger male knew better than to interrupt when his better was caught in with the likeness of a long dead saint, that may or may not have been more than just human.

"The old woman wants me to depart soon, does she not?" Madara eventually asked, turning his ruby eyes onto his subordinate. Kagami nodded. 

"There are, however, reports of dangerous activity outside the walls. She suggested you move with the royal procession. For added security." Madara hummed lowly before turning his eyes back to the saint. In the low light the shadows stretched like lifelines over it's features. 

"If that is her wish, though it matters little to me. I've not had a thought for my own safety in many these years. It will make no difference to me."

"Which is why your mother insists on you joining her in Krepost for the winter." Kagami kept his eyes downcast, but his voice did not waver when he addressed the crown prince and heir to the throne. 

"No, it's because she wants me to find one of its women. Krepost is no more or less safe with her walls than my own drafty palace," Madara  _ tisked _ loudly and turned on his heel away from the saint, "Fortress city it was named, but it is now a city of wealth and drunken Boyer. The only true consolation will be the hunting. I've not shot a bear this season."

"Tsarevich, your mother waits for you."

In an alcove against the wall was another likeness of a lady saint in frozen garments that fell from her hands like actual fabric, in spite of being carved from stone. An arrow tipped with gold sprung from her heart and the cry of her features was one that haunted his dreams. The saints had always fascinated him. The mortals who were not quite human. He wanted one for himself. He wanted to touch one and hold it and know divinity was true for the flesh. Ever since he was little and a choir boy for the sake of his family's appearance, saints followed him wherever he went.

"Tsarevich?"

Kagami called to him once more, and Madara tore his gaze away from the martyr to focus on the younger boy who was a half cousin of sorts. The rest of the world seemed dull, and not worth his time, but there were appearances he had to keep up. A duty he had to withhold.

"She's leaving now, isn't she?" He asked it like it was a true question, when it was obvious he was dressed for travel and had been prepared for the inevitability of this situation, “What a bother. I would have liked another day to pull myself away from this place with grace, but there is no time for that now, is there?" Madara turned his partly lidded gaze to his half cousin. "Don't you think a man with as much blood on my hands needs a bit more God than the others?"

"Not at all."

Madara didn't sneer, because Kagami was one of his blood, but he wanted to. Not at all indeed. As if his devils could be so easily excused with the weight of a crown. No wonder the paupers and the people were restless. Did he blame them? Did he want to?

"I will come," Madara said at last, "But only because it suits me. Maybe Krepost will be worth my attention this Solstice."

Without another word from either male, Madara exited the church with Kagami following close behind. Outside under the light of the clouded sun, a procession of men in black waited for him outside a carriage meant for his mother. A horse of his own was out of the question, so he climbed in without protest and closed his eyes without remorse, pretending to be tired or asleep. Either way, it prevented conversation for the first day of the trip.

One gray painting after another, and another, and another. Even the landscape was seeping gray.

Was Budapest this drab during the chilling seasons? Budapest, where they celebrated the autumn equinox with masks and secret dances under devilish lights in ballrooms large enough for peasants? What of Prague, with her cursed cobblestones and spires built for impaling falling angels? Even Saint Petersburg took a little delight in revelries when the spirits crossed over on the darkest day of the year. The merchants from Venice always brought the best of their wines and the pagan Galic beggars were welcomed for once to tell their fates and read their palms.

It hurt his head to think of such pleasantries, to think of places that burned brightly with life for one day out of the year before fading into ash like all the other paintings. He wanted red, he wanted vibrance.

"Stop the carriage." He stood and banged on the wall that led outside. His pale haired mother, Kaguya, looked up at him in question, but knew better than to question him. Any answer she sought was obvious enough after a simple glance at his expression.

Madara looked ready to sprout wings and fly away if that was at all possible. The urge simmered under his skin and it made the hairs along his arms, all the way up his neck, stand straight and erect like soldiers at attention.

"Take the soldiers with you," the woman hummed, returning to the exquisite beaded detail of her embroidery. Hands that had once wielded steel against the barbarians and pagan raiders now handled much finer needles with just as deadly precision.

If he was younger he would have told her he didn't need them, and if she were younger she would have told him they weren't for him, but for his crown. A prince needed an appearance befitting him, because in a world of teeth and treachery, image was just as much a weapon as steel.

Madara wrapped the black fur around his shoulders and let the cowl fall down his back. Four men on either side walked with him away from the carriage to a place in between the trees. None of them addressed him or spoke, but there was a lax to their posture that had been developed over time. These were the men that served him closer than the others, the ones who were at the pinnacle of the Uchiha standard of fitness, even if most of them were bastard children who would never be formally acknowledged by their blood's lineage. Not that Madara ever felt unsafe, but his entourage was enough to take down a small battalion if he was there to lead the pack.

It wasn't long before he found a humble stream not deep enough to wet his heels in, but Madara kneeled down in front of it and stripped his left hand of the black riding gloves.

"Tsarevich…" one of the men cautioned him. It was cold and the water would be freezing, but Madara didn't seem concerned with the cold.

He reached into the stream and pulled up a smooth stone, rubbing his thumb over it's surface before tossing it back into the water, not caring if it sank or drifted. When he looked down at his hand he could see the flesh was agitated and tight with pink color. It was cold, but he wasn't.

"I just want to stay here for a while," he said out loud.

An Uchiha knelt down in the snow close to where he lay and nodded, tucking his chin into his scarf, ready to dig in and wait for however long it took. This wasn't the first time Madara needed time to forget how gray the world was.

Before long, Madara stood and breathed a little easier. Nothing was fixed, but things were easier. He turned around and the men from his detail stood at attention. Madara tugged his black gloves back on before adjusting the black fur of his cowl.

Before they even approached the road where their procession waited, he heard the titter of the men and their semi masculine version of subtle gossip. Then Kagami was there, trying to break them up. He looked a little more agitated than usual and it almost made Madara wonder.

Madara followed the direction of the hidden gazes to the second carriage at the back reserved for storage and saw the Hyuga boy leaning into it, talking. There was someone inside for him to reply back too, and whoever they were just asked about him, because Neji turned around and looked. Madara tried to appear less intimidating, but it was difficult when the very bones of his body were built to be intimidating. Neji turned away quickly enough and Madara decided not to mind it any. Kagami came up to his carriage to make sure Madara made it inside safely. 

"What is it?" Madara asked, sounding bored, but his tone changed when he saw the look on Kagami's face, "Oh, something interesting." Kagami kept his eyes down, but didn't waste time on useless flatteries.

"You might not be able to hunt in the surrounding areas. There are reports of wolves carrying a sickness and attacking humans on their lands."

"Oh, now I'm interested. Mad wolves you say? Is that what our visitor told you? I do hope it's true."

"There were reports proceeding our arrival of such issues, but aside from that her state of distress was evidence enough of a wolf attack and Neji Hyuga was willing to vouch for her word."

"Her?" Madara tilted his head to the side, seated on the bench of his coach but close enough to the door that he could keep it open with the toe of his boot. 

"Yes, her. She is a female. Normally I would have sent a civilian out on their own, but because of the incident from her report and her state, I gave her permission to ride along in the luggage carriage. When she gets to the city she will have to see another doctor."

"I hope you've kept her as far away from the other men as possible. If she was attacked by a diseased animal she's not safe company," Kaguya spoke up, still threading her fabric with beads, "You'll keep her carriage far from our own, starting now."

Madara scratched the side of his face, watching Kagami run off and transfer the instructions to another member of their family before they finally began moving again. Absently, Madara let his eyes wander out the window and caught sight of something red. Blood was on the ground, staining the white lily of the valley flower that grew like a weed alongside the road.

It was so red, he actually reached out and grabbed one of his bastard soldiers, shaking him by the shoulder before instructing the strapping young male to fetch him the blood stained flower. In moments, he was holding the stained flower between his black covered fingers and never before had he seen something so lovely.

"What a mystery," he marveled almost silently to himself.

"Is it?" his mother asked with a hum. When Madara looked up she hadn't bothered to hide her secret smile.

Madara was met by Boyer officials and had obligations to his mother to keep his appearance in mind as he disembarked, but as soon as his responsibilities were fulfilled, he tracked down the old infirmary that had been built for treating wounded soldiers and not bleeding women who fought wolves for the heck of it.

When he reached the old tall room of stone there was nothing there to suggest any activity. Kagami was the next item on his list in this misguided scavenger hunt.

"A girl?" Kagami asked, sounding surprised, "Who?"

"The one who was injured. The one attacked by wolves."

"Ah, the beauty, the one from days ago. She left before we entered the city. She was staying with the wolf nomads hired to curb the infestation."

He thought of the stories his mother banished from the lips of elders, the tales of her days from before pearls and lace. There were days where his mother was wild and free and not at all what a queen in whalebone corsets should be. He felt excited. 

"She was a nomad?" Kagami put the papers he had been looking through down and turned the fullness of his attention to his prince. 

"No, but she was staying with them last I heard. I don't know much of her situation, but I could learn more if that was what you wanted."

"Hn, don't sound so eager. I'll see to it myself in due time. For now, I need to hunt. Mother has already begun to stir the servants into a frenzy for this pointless celebration of hers." Madara traced back a stray strand of black ebony that fell down in front of his eyes, "Ready my horses and prepare the weapons, I want to leave as soon as possible."

"But the wolves!"

"The Hyuga were the ones who hired the Wolf tribe here in the first place, they can arrange a guard for my detail if they know what's good for them." He paused before speaking again, "I won't be left here inside these walls without a window to the world."

The first night was terrible, as it was overly formal and full of a lot of lackluster hand shaking and small talk over satin gloves. By the end, Madara was ready to fly off the walls and rip into the plaster to claw his way out. Thankfully that wasn't necessary, as there was a balcony where he could hide away under the sky and stars while the satin dancers swirled across the dance floor.

It was late and Kagami was absent. He had left earlier that evening, well before the start of the party, and it was now past midnight. Several of his men and the Hyuga were missing as well. Madara glanced back inside and searched quickly for the boy from the wolf tribe he had made a part of his guard. He was missing as well. Something had happened without him and it was pissing him off. How dare they go off and have fun while he had to suffer the tandem of pre rehearsed greetings and exchanges. He wanted to be running or hunting or shooting something from horseback. This wasn't what he was meant for.

"Someone will be asking for you sooner or later, it would be best to give an excuse before disappearing, so that others do not take it upon themselves to seek you out and rescue you," a cool voice cut into his train of thoughts.

He turned and saw his mother, smaller than him and shorter even in her heels. She was aged, but there was little evidence of it aside from her carriage and the weight in her eyes. She was as youthful a beauty as the day his father found her and fell in love with her.

"I didn't wish to be rude, or dishonest. In this situation, I would have been forced to be one or the other." Madara watched his mother approach the rail and stand alongside him, "What was your excuse for leaving?"

"I needed some fresh air in my old age to clear my head. Really, you should know me better by now. Everyone knows to be sensitive of my fainting spells and how easily they can be triggered," she laughed. Only those privileged with a close enough relationship to the older woman knew that her fainting spells were a lie dreamed up to get her out of situations she didn't want to be a part of. She had a strong disposition that could rival any man's.

"What troubles you, my son?"

"I think I have been left behind." Kaguya hummed, nodding along. 

"I thought I felt something agitate these old bones of mine. Some of the guards are missing as well, but I had hope they were only escorting distinguished guests. The lady saint never showed, and I'm greatly disappointed."

"You don't truly believe in that, do you?" Madara asked with a suppressed sneer, "You should know there are no living saints for us to dance with. Such talk is blasphemy."

"Don't be such a zealot. You're starting to sound like that angry monk that always followed you around, cursing and swearing out the heathens and pagans who came near you." She chuckled fondly at the memory, "You made him your advisor and he took off into the mountains to spread the Word of God, and the poor thing has been lost or busy ever since. You shouldn't bother yourself with such matters, come back inside and suffer another dance. Tomorrow night won't be so terrible, I promise." Madara wanted to say more, but something caught his attention and silenced the worlds in his throat. 

"There are horses approaching. I will greet them." His mother made a face that was almost disapproving. 

"What excuse should I give on your behalf?"

"What excuse is there that could justify the absence of your unwed heir at a social event with so many bachelorettes?" he asked with unnecessary sarcasm.

His mother might have tried to connivence him further to stay, but Madara had recognized the sight of his cousin and was hurrying down the side stairs to the courtyard to greet the wounded soldiers. There was one body held limp in the front of a shared saddle, but no soulless bodies were being carried. There had been a fight, and it had been fierce enough to wound most of them, but not enough to end a life.

So why did so many of them look like they just buried their commanding officer? The Wolf boy with tattoos on his face looked especially distraught. His expression looked equal parts nauseated and frantically enraged. How he had managed to ride back on his hound alongside the others was a mystery.

"What happened?" Madara demanded, not waiting for the men to catch their breath. The soldier with the limp body was dismounting, and another was coming over to hurry and help in the transportation of their wounded comrade, but Kagami made a beeline for Madara, his face ashen.

"We were in the Monarch Woods, exterminating the mad wolves."

"So suddenly? Why was there need of such rash actions?"

"There was an attack, earlier this afternoon in our compound," Neji interrupted, "They were assassins from the Hare tribe, and from them we were able to expose their intentions. They were the ones poisoning the wolves and feeding them man flesh to drive them mad. They planned to antagonize them into a frenzy outside the walls and start a riot."

"In the chaos, anyone settled within these walls would have been trapped," Kagami added, picking up where Neji paused.

The Hyuga was looking back over his shoulder at the wolf boy and seemed just as sick when he forgot to hide it. As a Hyuga, he was better at concealing his true emotions and masking what he felt, but even he was human and had to crack sometimes. Both boys looked like they lost something.

"Who died?" Madara finally asked, eyes hardening on the reactions among the company. From far back he saw the wizen Monkey King climbing down from his steed alongside the female doctor. The pair flinched at his tone and exchanged a look of shared hurt. So it had been someone they knew as well.

"It wasn't one of our men, but the girl who was attacked by the assassin from the Hare tribe initially," Kagami whispered, suddenly unable to speak in a level tone.

Kiba, in the background choked on a strangled cry and dropped to his knees, grabbing at the stones underneath him and gripped their edges till his knuckles were white. He looked more animal than man, making his sounds of grief and strangling over them. He raised his fists and struck the stones beneath them and only his hands were hurt from the impact. Neji ran over to shove him off the ground but Kiba countered and swung at the Hyuga. Neji easily blocked and the pair separated with fists raised above their heads. 

"Don't touch me!" Kiba snarled in a werewolf's voice worn raw from howling. "Don't you fucking touch me with your hands! She's not coming back from that! There wasn't even anything left to bury, so don't touch me with your damn hands like you understand."

"Shut up, like you're the only one who cared," Neji snapped, balling his hands into fists, "I'm not the one who left her behind with that monster. Don't think you cared about her more than anyone else when you were the one that left her alone!"

Madara watched as the wolf boy he had grown fond of went white in the face. It was as if someone had punched the air out of Kiba's lungs and sucked the life out of his skin. His eyes went wide and vacant all at once and it was as if his spirit had left through them.

"You couldn't find a body?" Madara asked Kagami in a lowered tone, not wanting to set the boys off even more. He looked to his cousin and Kagami shook his head, grimacing.

"And she had looked so magnificent riding out in front of us with her bone rifles and…" absently Kagami touched his mouth, as if he were lost in his memory, "She seemed immortal, like this world couldn't touch her. She was strong."

Madara tried to remember the girl they picked up off the road, the one who bled so prettily over the flowers, but he had never gotten a good enough look at her face to remember it.

Ah, but he remembered the stories he heard of her, the ones the halls seemed to whisper to him when he walked on by. Everyone inside the city seemed obsessed with this girl, the one they dubbed saint. She had been curing the diseased and the near dead as a healer, which was her profession, but she ran with a wolf at her side and had hands that could kill just as easily.

There were all sorts of stories about her history and her fate, few of which he believed. Even if he had met a few of the people she had cured of an incurable disease…it was no simple thing to be one of the blessed.

"And she's gone?" He asked, quietly, feeling a quiet loss.

"The body must have been devoured and mutilated beyond recognition. Her wolf companion was….also mutilated, but left in the mouth of the beast it died under. The only one who tried searching through the grime for her pieces was…" And at this Kagami looked to Kiba who still stood like a ghost. "He was the last to come….the last to leave."

Madara studied the boy again and remembered the times they had gone hunting. Kiba had been talkative and cheerful and full of youth. It wasn't hard to imagine him falling in love with a pretty older woman who came into his family all of a sudden. It was the trademark of young boys with imaginations larger than their ages.

Thinking back, Madara almost recalled Kiba mentioning his dream woman to a few men, lamenting their separation and his seemingly unreturned feelings. So she had been the one who ruled his heart and mind. It all made better sense now.

"I'm sorry for your loss. Quickly, you should get out of the cold and into the warm waters to clean yourselves of the blood. You're all a sight. Kagami, you'll come with me for a more in depth brief. I want to know more of this incident."

The men broke off as they were told and Shizune went over to Neji's side, ushering him away when he tried to shy away from her upon initial contact. She said something soft and honest that made him turn to follow, but there was no one for Kiba.

Before anyone who noticed could say anything, the wolf boy turned sharply and mounted his wolf before kicking in and steering his dog out of the courtyard and beyond the gates to the castle.

"Leave him," Neji said when a soldier nearly turned to follow Kiba out, "He will mourn his own way."

* * *

_ "I will vanish in the morning light; I was only an invention of darkness."  
_ _ -"The Lady of the House of Love" by Angela Carter _

* * *

That night Madara slept fitfully, and the next night's parties couldn't even annoy him enough to shake the numbness that came from hearing Kagami's story. Kagami told all, and explained in greater detail the connections and relationships of the plotters and the thwarters. He learned of Sakura, the living saint they all adored. Shizune's stories and accounts of her miracles were too detailed and honest to be elaborations.

He learned of the day she came back, bloodied beyond the scope of Shizune's capabilities. In the story Sakura dragged herself all the way back from the lands devoted to the mad wolves with her injuries owning whole chunks of her body. Shizune did her best, but it was bad and yet somehow Sakura pulled through. No, she did more than just pull through. In mere days it was as if she had never almost died. The nuns at the church called it a miracle and prayed for her blessings to be their own when they bent their knees.

Madara was supposed to be asking more about the Hare tribe, and their plots and the assassins they had managed to capture alive before they could kill themselves, but all he wanted to hear about was the pink haired beauty who healed with the power of God and fought like one of His avenging angels. It was only a little agonizing to hear about such an amazing dead woman he would never be able to touch.

He could appreciate what the Hyuga boy and Kiba saw in her, even if he had been denied that possibility thanks to circumstances. It was five days later when he caught himself in the middle of prayer and had to stop because his lips were whispering latin for her, for Sakura's blessing, for her healing hands to do something other than heal. A woman he could never touch, he felt closer to than any woman before or after.

"God, send me some relief from this fervor," he prayed, feeling frustrated with the wanting that wouldn't leave his heart alone.

He wanted her. He wanted the saint for his own. He wanted to touch something holy and burn under her lips. He could see it in the candles he lit for her, the anti shadow of her form dancing for him. Her candles danced more wildly than the others. He clutched her icon in his hands, holding it as firmly as he dared without wrinkling the likeness of her face framed in golden halo rings. 

"I pray for a miracle." His thumb brushed the outline of her face and he felt the warmth of it through the petty paper, "In a world where there is no color, I pray for fire."

When he stood from the altar, he felt oddly emptied, as if he had poured himself into his words and spent himself into a deficit. It wasn't a terrible feeling, but the emptiness was gnawing. All of his wants and greed were that much more evident when he looked inwards to examine himself.

'I want, I want, I want….'

Every step he took with another woman in a dance he had played through the night before was like another heartbeat that echoed his feelings.

'I want her hair, I want her eyes, I want her lips, I want her hands,'

It was terrible and he felt miserable for it, knowing this was not how a healthy man his age should act about a saint he worshiped. In his pocket he kept a bone from her wolf's spine on a string. He had paid a fortune for it, but treasured it like it was beyond measure. He had wanted a bone from her, but the Uchiha who went to the grounds couldn't find anything human. That made sense. The divine didn't seem to like leaving their pieces behind for the greedy to covet and hoard. Why should she be any different?

He excused himself early from the dance and retreated to his room, taking the long trip in silence. He didn't take an escort and he didn't pass anyone in the halls, but when he stopped outside the doors to his retreat he felt a presence. His saber felt lighter at his side, eager to be drawn, but Madara only kept his hands there to hover before pushing open the door and letting himself in.

The room was dark, but there was enough light to see the shape and figure curled atop his bed, and even without the light he could smell the blood and see the stains seeping into his white sheets. The form moved and he was quick to throw the modest candles into the hearth, setting off a roar of flames that brought enough light back into the room so that he could see what he was looking at.

His breath caught in his throat and he wanted to fall down on his knees when she raised her head up and stared at him through his broken lashes. A ribbon of blood encircled her temples, like a circlet of suffering. Her hands were bloodied too and her chest was dark with the fluid as well.

"You're dead," he breathed, daring to approach.

"I'm also supposed to not be here," she intoned, tilting her head slightly like a bird would, "Sometimes things work out that way. Are you going to give me trouble about it?" He took another step until his waist was up against the mattress, his eyes looking across those sheets at her. 

"Never." His hands shook at his sides.

She breathed out loudly into her arm and shifted back onto her side, showing off the stains of red that pooled around her form. There was a terrible amount of blood already soaked into the sheets, but she didn't look like it bothered her.

"What happened to you?" he breathed out, studying her in greater detail, trying to be critical and less star struck, "They said you perished."

"I'm sure that's what it was. It wasn't the first, and it won't be the last time I nearly die in this stupid dream." Absently she traced one hand over the hole in her stomach and he saw her fingers hover over a cleaner area as if remembering an old wound, "But no, I'm not dead. Not like any of you are. Damn if that makes any sense to a dream like you. Just…don't think about it, don't mind me."

She tried rolling over but froze and flinched before sliding back onto her side and into her original position. Her skin was pale and her eyes shadowed deeply. Without meaning to, Madara reached over to feel the cool of her skin and recognized the touch as being something unhealthy.

"You're sick."

"Don't know how that happened," Sakura hummed, "Doesn't matter. Won't stop me…"

Madara climbed atop the bed and crawled over to her, hesitating when her eyes flashed up to pin him with a stare. He swallowed and moved slower, taking her gently by the shoulders and folding her up between his arms to rest against his chest. She protested with a verbal grunt of annoyance, but didn't try to move away. Pulling a cloth from his pocket, he dipped it into the water basin beside his bed and used it to clean the blood off her face.

"What are you doing?" She asked with her eyes closed, head limp against his chest.

"Removing the grim and blood of battle. I may not know how you came to me wounded, but I can only assume you're here for a reason. I'll treat you with care so long as you're under my roof and protection. You need not worry while here."

"I'm not worried," she grumbled, not bothering to move. If anything she seemed to relax against him. Only when his free hand traced the curve of her cheekbone did she look up with a thin veil of annoyance to her eyes. "What are you doing now?"

"You're real."

"Duh."

"No. You were, for so long, a story, an idea. You were never human. You were a saint raised by wolves, a warrior with fur, a healer from the trenches. You were never a…."

"A what?" Her eyebrow twitched a millimeter, barely noticeable. 

"A girl."

"I assure you, I'm very much human. It hurts like hell, so I know I'm still alive, too. Ah, I better not wake up here tomorrow night. I should still be in the kingdom."

"What kingdom?" 

Sakura shook her head.  "Doesn't matter. It won't make a difference. I should have moved on from this place but for some reason I came back, to recover from these I would guess." 

To illustrate her point she held up her hands and Madara saw the blood crusting over her palms. He grabbed one and began wiping it clean, taking extra care around the site of the wound so that his rubbing wouldn't break open the natural seal of blood. 

"How did you do this?"

"I grabbed a sword the wrong way." The way she said it she could have been laughing about it. Maybe she was.

"You should be more careful than that. You could hurt your hands more seriously if you're not careful."

"I'm only alive because I'm careful. Trust me, I didn't want to end up here like this, chased out with my tail between my legs like a coward. I hate retreating." 

He hummed in agreement, understanding the sentiment perfectly. 

"It hurts as well as any other wound, the injury of pride, but that is what we must endure to survive." 

Her laugh was a tickle of sound.  "Somehow I have a hard time imagining the Tsarevich ever retreating from anything or suffering a loss of pride."

"Madara."

"Hm?" She looked up, almost confused, but her eyes were too heavy with drowsiness to pull off the expression convincingly.

"Madara, I am the Tsarevich to my subjects, to my citizens, to my enemies. I am Madara to few." 

She made a thoughtful sound deep in her throat, almost like she understood.  "Hm. Madara." 

He felt a shiver when she said his name and he wanted to hear it again. He wanted her to say it over and over for him, but he kept his wishes captive from his voice. Her voice had oddly silenced him, and now all he could do is let her settle against him and drift closer and closer to sleep.

He laid her cleaned hand down and picked up the second bloodied palm. He was just as gentle as he was with the first, and when he was done she was nearly asleep on his chest. Instead of laying her hand down, he held on, curling his fingers around her own. She was much smaller than him, right down to the size of her hands. She was still cold to the touch so he pulled her closer, trapping her in between his shoulders and knees like his body was a cage dressed in black. He unfastened the half cap of black fur and pulled it around to drape over her. She managed to open her eyes and look up at him when he tucked the fur under her chin, but didn't stir more than that. She was a dozing doe in his lap.

"Dorogaya,” he whispered into her hair. She didn't respond when he called her love. The men called her other names, and he remembered a few of them.

_ Devushka,  _ the beauty.

_ Volk zhenshchina _ , wolf woman, or sometimes just  _ Volk _ .

_ Svyatoy _ , hallowed or saint.

He wondered if anyone before him had held her like this and called her love into her hair. He hissed her crown and whispered the word again. 

" _ Dorogaya _ ."

He loved the way it rolled off his tongue and weighed on the tip before spilling past his lips. He imagined she liked hearing it too, even though she didn't say anything. Her eyes fluttered every so often, so that he knew she wasn't fully awake or fully sleeping. She was caught in between, weary and weakened from her adventures and troubles no doubt.

The cynical side of his brain wondered if that was the only reason she was staying with him in his arms. He shut down that camp of thought and kissed her hair again, fiercely protective of the idea that she didn't mind his affections. A part of his heart would always worship her, but a larger part of his heart wanted to possess her in a way that wasn't forceful or cohesive. He wanted his chest to swell when she called him hers. He wanted her to want him almost as much as he wanted her.

"My  _ dorogaya _ ."

With his nose he edged the hair away from her face and kissed her temple. He felt high so he kissed her again. Her eyes twitched and she almost moved. Her voice was a whisper riding her breath out past her lips but Madara heard it well enough to recognize it for what it was. 

" _ Sasori _ ."

When he woke up in the morning, there was blood staining his sheets and the breast of his jacket front, but there was no sign of the saint. Sakura had vanished as if she were nothing more than an invention of the night.

* * *

_ "I will tell you what she was like. She was like a piano in a country where everyone has had their hands cut off."  
_ _ -Angela Carter _

* * *

Samhain was upon them, and the servants were in a tizzy to prepare everything to perfection. A whole week of resting had proceeded this night, and by now most of the Boyer were chomping at the bit to rub elbows again.

The Samhain festival celebrated on the Autumn Equinox had always been a favorite of the dark haired prince, but this year the festivities seemed especially dry in comparison to previous years. Or maybe it was just him, lacking the motivation to become excited for anything that didn't have green eyes and scarred palms. Even the hunting had become mundane. Nothing seemed capable enough to thrill him anymore.

Outside the room there were people in a frantic rush to put together the last minute details for the night, but Madara didn't pay it any mind as he stared down at the body on the floor. The body belonged to a young male with skilled hands and silver hair to match his gray eyes. He was glaring up at Madara through his bloodied lashes. A pool of red was seeping out from beneath him to fill the spaces in between the stones like black mirrors. He would not live much longer.

"You've become desperate to try and come at me with only one body. Was I not worth a pair of bunny assassins?" Madara taunted dully.

The boy tried to rise and Madara brought down the heel of his boot across the man's face. There was a splatter of red against the wall and Madara heard bone fall against stone.

"Bastard prince," the man spat, jaw trembling.

"I'm impressed. You're still able to speak with your face looking like that. Maybe I wasn't forceful enough." Madara kicked again and sidestepped a stray kick from the wounded male before dropping only his heel down on the assassin's throat. The male looked up, his eyes wide and whiter that bone. There was an unspoken question being asked.

"No," Madara answered, "I'm not going to ask you anything, I don't bother with interrogations, and unfortunately for you, I'm not in the mood to go fetch anyone else suited for information extraction, so your voice means nothing to me. Pity. You cursed me well enough."

There was an awful choking sound and Madara almost winced at the black blood mixing with spit as the assassin tried to breath through a crushed windpipe. He would be dead in seconds, but Madara didn't feel like waiting seconds.

His blade was a thin fold of metal through the man's neck, severing the spine and ending his life.

Madara had just killed a man. He stood in the man's blood, towering over the man's limp body. He had just extinguished the life of another human being, a sin in the eyes of God, and he still didn't feel anything. Normally such trespasses from religion could at least excite him. Not this time.

He wiped his saber clean and sheathed it at his side before turning and returning to his room, leaving the door to the hallway open so someone would see the body in the servant's study sooner or later. If he  _ told _ someone it had been him or that this assassin had been out for him, he would be assigned a detail, and he didn't want that.

In his room, with the door closed behind him, he took a stalk of dried wisteria and threw it onto the fire, not caring that it was already pleasant smelling enough in the room. The colored smoke drifted up with the flames and he could smell the earth from his hearth.

Breathing in a lung-full of the smell, he undid the buttons to his jacket and stripped down to his skin. In nothing but his unmentionables he pulled a comb through his hair, braided it down the back, cleaned his back and neck with oils, and dressed himself.

He watched the figure in his mirror pull through the double layer of buttons on his military jacket in bright red. He straightened his sash and pierced it with pins and medals, taking care to keep them straight.

He was pulling through a gold pin in the shape of the imperial double headed eagle when Shisui knocked. Madara knew it was Shisui at the door because that boy was faster than any of the other Uchiha and the knock had been hurried. Also, Madara had known the boy long enough since the day Shisui became part of her personal guard.

"Enter," the older prince called out to his other distant cousin. Shisui opened the door a crack, bowed, and then stepped forward. 

"A detail has been assembled to lead you from your room to the grand hall. A body was found."

"I know, that was my work," Madara replied dully. He finished with his pin and turned to look away from the mirror. "There will be no such escort. Tell this to Kagami personally, that's my order."

Shisui knew better than to argue. He clicked his heels together and bowed low at the waist before stepping out backwards. Satisfied, Madara turned back to the mirror to look his appearance over once more. His boots were freshly polished and shone black against the fabric of his equally dark pants. His younger brother left behind in St. Petersburg would have worn white, but Madara was not a man known for his use of color. His red military coat and the gold of his medals was the only pop to distinguish his outfit. Even his sash was black and the half cape he wore over one shoulder was trimmed heavily in black bear fur.

He was tugging on his gloves when Kagami entered, not even bothering to knock.

"I told you no detail."

"I'm not a detail, I'm your cousin. My responsibilities include making sure you're properly dressed and arrive without being assassinated in the hallway." The younger Uchiha pointed to something left on the table by the bed, "Your mask."

Like the grand parties in Budapest, his mother was throwing a masque ball to celebrate the Autumn Equinox. The black half mask that flared like bat wings at the ends was handpicked for him by his mother. Few knew him better and few loved him as well, so he picked up the mask and tied it on, willing to endure it for her.

He didn't say anything more to Kagami and Kagami didn't say much in reply, but he did pull out his own mask and hold onto it as they walked the halls. He didn't tie it on or lift it to his face until they were closer, and when he did Madara saw that his cousin's mask was gold to match his buttons.  _ Fitting _ .

The grand ballroom was decorated splendidly. No expense had been spared to show off the wealth of the Russian crown, and the walls in and of themselves were testimony enough for that. Mirrors in golden frames hung floating along two parallel walls, the back wall was window and glass doors up to the vaulted ceilings, and the last wall was choked full of a small orchestra.

Small rooms off to the sides had been lavishly decorated with fainting couches and lounge areas for more intimate conversations and activities. One of the rooms had a fortune teller there reading the palms and cards for the guests as they pleased in exchange for their toss away coins and a place to sleep in the kitchen at night. Another room had a small glass table fashioned in a round design set up for the seance a Boyar woman promised.

Madara found his mother with his eyes easily enough as Kagami led him in. She was seated prettily across a couch by the back windows, fanning herself demurely and watching him with her hawklike eyes. If he tried to leave again she would see. Maybe she wouldn't stop him, but she would see and that was enough to keep him from thinking about escape.

"I will go greet my mother." Madara nodded across the dance floor but didn't bother mentioning anything about what he planned on doing afterwards.

Kagami hung back, but was still a shadow to Madara's movements, even though the elder caught Kagami getting distracted by all the pretty ladies in full skirts dancing across the floor. There were quite a few beauties tonight, due to the importance of the presence of the unmarried, unengaged crown prince being promised to attend.

"Looking for someone?" Madara teased his cousin before pulling ahead and reaching his mother.

The queen reached up to kiss his cheeks and he returned the gesture. Her headdress was immaculately decorated in beads and jewels that tapered to a point, encasing her head in the outline of a spade. Her neck was thick with just as many jewels.

"My lonely child, why do you look so forlorn all the time? Tonight is a festive night. You should enjoy yourself." Madara sighed, kneeling down next to his mother. 

"Forgive me. I can't seem to find any interest in anything these days. I even killed someone earlier and I felt nothing for it." His mother made a sympathetic face and kissed her fingers before touching them to his face once more in a sign of affection. 

"My poor pet, I'm sorry you're in such low spirits that not even blood can rouse your mood. Dance for me, will you? You might be able to run away from your melancholy."

Madara smiled up at his mother in appreciation before reaching over to kiss her once more. He loved how she was so understanding of his natural tendencies and disposition. He inherited them from her, after all. His father was fierce, to be sure, but it was his mother who was the fearsome one.

Before he could move far, a Boyer his mother favored approached them with her daughter on her arm. Madara pretended to smile and listen, but tuned out the excuses before numbly accepting the girl's hand and leading her out onto the dance floor. A slow waltz by Shostakovich made it easy for him to insert himself in between the dancers on the dance floor, but made it stiff company as the girl in his arms looked like she wanted to talk during the slow steps. He wanted to bite the inside of his mouth. The waltz would not last much longer.

"Forgive my silence," he intoned.

"Of course, treasured Tsarevich. I should not dare to think that you remember the child from Kurba.”

Madara's mind processed this information. Kurba was an old Russian village of Yaroslavl Oblast situated 20 km southwest of Yaroslavl on the open high place on the right bank of the river Kurbitsy. The only reason he remembered so much was because of the church there. The main attraction of the village was the Church of Kazan Mother of God Icon. Beyond that, his memory served him little, but that was fine since the waltz was ending.

The pair stepped away from each other, she curtsied, he bowed, and another woman was waiting for his arm. He quickly lost track of the masked faces that took up space on his arms, one right after the other.

Across the room he saw the Hyuga boy dancing and when they passed close enough, Madara saw enough to guess that Neji wanted to be at the ball just as much as Madara. At least someone aside from him was suffering through this.

Without his consent, his mind fell back to Sakura, the pink haired saint with green eyes rarer than emeralds. Neji still thought she was dead and that wasn't true. Was it worth telling anyone? Was it even worth mentioning at all? For all he knew she was a dream, or something he made up inside his head and convinced himself to be real.

No, she was real, those bloodstains were real enough. Her skin was real enough. There was no way he would have been able to dream up that night in such perfect detail. And considering the way it ended, it wasn't his ideal dream. The name she whispered when not quite asleep still haunted him like a splinter stuck under skin that's healed over. It wasn't painful, but it was annoying.

Once the waltz ended, Madara was quick to back out of his bow and make his way towards the room with the vagrant hired to read cards and palms. If he was lucky, enough mingling would be enough to shake off the bulk of his female suitors. At a masque, several gentlemen had taken advantage of the night to imitate the crown prince in style and looks. They were good decoys.

There was a line outside the makeshift tent she had set up, but he wasn't in a rush, so he waited his turn just like any other Boyer would, being careful not to attract too much attention. Minutes later, it was his time to be called forward. He pushed aside the curtains and let them fall behind him once he stepped inside. The woman smiled at him from underneath her hood and chuckled to herself as he took his seat. 

"Give me your hand, boy."

"I was hoping for a reading of the cards." The woman turned her head to one side, staring at him with a single eye before turning her head the opposite way and doing the same with her other eye. 

"It won't be as accurate. Don't you want both? One might have something important for you."

Both would take more time, and that meant more time away from the women. Madara nodded and scooted closer, looking interested as the old woman shuffled through her cards. They faded, long, and soft when spread out across the fabric table top. 

"Choose three. Look for ones that call to you, that feel warmer, that reach farther."

Madara didn't give it much thought, but he picked three out and she removed them from the rest before laying them out in a row. She then held out the deck to him and shook it until he chose the one more card. She took it before he could get a look at it and laid it horizontal beneath the rest of his cards.

"First, your present." She flipped over the card and Madara saw that it was labeled the Three of Swords. A red heart hung suspended in the air against a background of clouds with three swords skewered through it.

"Your past," she intoned somberly. The card was the Two of Swords. On the card he saw a young, blindfolded woman who held a sword in each hand. She sat in front of a sea filled with rocks and crags that present obstacles to ships which need clear passage.

"Your future," the witch interrupted. When she flipped the last of his three cards his heart stung a bit. The Queen of Swords was clearly depicted on a throne of white with one held extended, palm out, the other brandishing a sword. There was growth and greenery towards the bottom of the card too, making it stand out against the others, but it was her face that made him stop breathing. It was the face of a saint with pale skin and rose hair, and even though her eyes were peacefully shut, he knew they were green.

"To elaborate, we look at where you are now before looking at where you have been. You are in pain, emotional pain of some sort. The Three of Swords is a card of grief and loss. It's a card for pierced hearts." Her wrinkled hand moved to his Past card and tapped the woman in the picture. 

"In the past, you were faced with a difficult decision. The blindfold shows that the woman in this card is confused about her situation and that she can see neither the problem nor the solution clearly. The swords she holds are perfectly balanced, showing a balanced and stable mind, and that both sides of the situation need to be addressed. The crossed swords are also symbolic of the need for a truce and the Suit of Swords indicates that the problem at hand needs to be resolved using logic and intellect. The waxing moon to the right of the woman shows a new beginning arising out of the solutions found for this problem."

"And the last one?" Madara asked, mentally making a connection between his inheritance of the throne and the decisions he faced at that point in his life.

"Your future….ah, yes. The Queen of Swords sits high on her throne with a stern look on her face indicating that no-one can fool her. In her right hand, she comfortably holds a sword pointed to the sky, and her left hand extends as if she has something to offer to others. Behind her is a spring sky, different from the winter settings on most other Swords cards, and this has an emergence and growth quality to it. The sky is clear, representing her clarity of mind as she considers matters of the intellect. A good card for you my prince, it shows you will rule well."

"But there is another meaning to it, isn't there? Why is it her on the card?"

"You're asking me why? The Queen of Swords represents the sternness of a mature intellect which is devoid of emotion." She pointed to the female's face, "In mythology, the feminine is associated with emotion, yet in this card the woman is stern and composed, and without much feeling. This card therefore represents the intellect's ability to judge and discern impartially, without the influence of emotion or sentimentality. This is in your future, and it could mean someone else, a person of such character is in your future, or it could mean this is your future self….which brings me to our last card. Turn it over yourself."

Madara did so and saw the face of a bearded white man on a throne pointed with four ram heads. Along the bottom banner it read, The Emperor. The woman across from him cackled. 

"Of course you would draw that card. No one other that our precious Tsarevich would have such a fate."

"What does this card mean?" Madara asked, only slightly annoyed that he was being laughed at.

"This is your card, the card that represents you. The Emperor is the father figure of the Tarot deck. He is the 'provider' and protects and defends his loved ones. He has established a solid family line and is often seen as the patriarch of a wide network of family members. He offers guidance, advice and wisdom to others and in doing so, demonstrates authority and grounding. Does this sound like you?"

"I wouldn't be able to tell you," Madara intoned, glancing back up at the Queen of Swords, "What about that palm reading?"

She held out her hand and he removed his glove for her. She made a sound deep in her throat as she traced the lines across his palm and then told him something about a short life, a lot of blood, a curse, and a frayed love line.

"What does that mean?" he asked, not entirely sure why he was bothering to ask anymore, since less and less made sense anymore.

"Nothing much, but you have a pocket here that's telling me you need to be out there tonight…on the waltzing floor with the one who holds your frayed love line together." And when the witch looked up over his palm he knew she was saying something apart from what she saw on his hand, "She will be waiting for you, alongside that curse."

He tried opening his mouth to say something but she shrieked over him, rising to chase him out, chanting loudly a mantra about others were waiting, and if he didn't like his fate he shouldn't have asked.

Before he could protest further, she was already inside with another customer, having not even bothered to ask for his coins in exchange for her troubles. Feeling a bit sideswiped and off kilter, Madara headed back out to the main room, taking care to keep to the corners and not attract too much attention. Those who looked too long would recognize him, but he hid behind his mask well enough that he could stay on the down low for a while.

"Curses and love lines…what I am to do after listening to such nonsense. It's not as if I believe any of it."

He caught himself mid step, captivated in an instant. There were so many skirts and so many bodies between her and him, yet the fullness of her form burned in his eyes like the light of the sun after an eternity underground. She had been dancing with the Hyuga boy, and after some quick little quirk of her lips, she was separated from him, hidden by a wall of bodies as she glided through the dancers to meet him and fall into his extended arms.

The band was playing his favorite waltz, and they fell into it perfectly. Her swan-like hands ghosted over his form to hold him at the shoulder and hand while he cupped her tapered waist.

"A vision," he breathed, still taken in by her.

She was his perfect match, dressed in flowing robes of black silk that shone like patches of the naked night sky when she moved. Encircled around her bodice was a belt of painted gold leaves to match the one around her face. Her hair was hidden under her headdress of black and gold, but her mask was fashioned like leaves that grew outwards away from her eyes. How she could have danced with Hyuga without him recognizing her was a mystery until he remembered the way she swept herself across the dance floor.

The Hyuga had recognized her, most likely, but had lost her.

Sparing a glance to his surroundings, he angled her away from the bulk of the dancers towards the back of the room with the windows. It was easier to move with a partner, and Sakura was a perfect partner, complimenting all his steps, even the ones he thought might be too long for her to match.

Together they waltzed away from the dance floor and when Sakura turned to look at where Madara was steering them he pulled her closer, drawing her hips towards his.

"I'm selfish," he whispered into her hair, not daring to say more about how his greed kept him from wanting any of the other men to look at her or chase her down or ask for explanations as to why she was alive.

"What a greedy man," she sang in her bell-like voice.

He held her protectively to his chest as they danced straight out the door and onto the patio. She tried to pull away from him, out of the dance, but he kept going. Even outside they could still hear the waltz and the steps were too fiercely ingrained into his memory he didn't know if he could stop midway through.

That, and he really didn't want to let her go.

"You left without a word." She almost smiled, but it was too sly for him to read her lips. 

"I do that. Apparently it's a bad habit."

"I didn't enjoy your absence." He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles and loved the way she shivered, "It was quite vexing to have to clean up all that blood without so much as a thank you."

"Thank you?" Her eyes went wide as she played innocent.

She was painfully cute when she looked up at him like that. He wanted to take a bite out of her mouth and keep eating her until she was his. He wanted to teach her how to hunger for another man's lips the way he hungered for hers. His head made his face flush with the idea of her weak in the knees, pressed up against a wall, his mouth on her mouth…his mouth on her neck, his mouth on her chest. Oh, his heart was starting to hurt.

"Someone told me tonight that you were my future."

"Oh, did they?" Sakura asked with a hum, her lips curling at the corners into an almost smile. Maybe she knew what he was thinking. Maybe she knew how crazy she made him. Maybe it was all on purpose. "How did that happen?"

"I had my fortune read," Madara answered her, staring down at the saint he held in his arms, "I couldn't care about anything else, but she told me you will be in my future."

"Maybe she's right then. I don't know where I'll be going after this last kingdom, but I'll pray you're in one of them. It wouldn't be the first time someone's followed me or met me somewhere a second time around. Ah, sometimes it was annoying, too." Sakura closed her eyes and let her head drop down against his chest, "Not that I couldn't handle it."

"You shouldn't have to." He kissed the side of her face, where the bones around her eye stood out, "Point them out to me and I'll tear them apart for you, my  _ dorogaya." _

_ " _ You've called me that before." Sakura shook off his lips as they hovered above her ear, "But you told me to call you Madara. Why aren't I Sakura to you?"

"It's a term of affection and it's only for you. It makes me feel closer to you. For my  _ dorogaya,  _ anything you wish for is yours, any body not desired is removed, and any pleasure you seek is for me to provide, but this is true only for my  _ dorogaya _ ." Sakura made a noise deep in her throat like she was thinking it over to herself. 

"For now…" she began. "I just want you to dance with me."

He pulled her closer and they fell out of the waltz steps. They swayed a bit from side to side her folded up against him. 

"You're wish…” He bent down to drape his black, bear trimmed cape around her shoulders. "…Is my command,  _ dorogaya." _

Like the clasps on a chain, they were looked into each other's embrace, secured with their bodies in spite of the movement of regal dance work that pulled on them. It felt natural and easy in a way dancing had never been before. Madara had no difficulty mastering the footwork or manners of dance, but when he danced perfectly he never noticed. The perfect dance never felt like anything to him. When he danced with Sakura, he  _ felt _ easy.

"You can't leave me again," he whispered into her hair.

"I have to. I'm not supposed to be here, and I should be going back."

"Don't ever leave. Stay with me like this. Dance with me forever, I beg of you. I'll make no request of anyone else, for I've never had need of such tactics." Sakura almost pulled away to grin sarcastically up at him. 

"You mean 'asking someone?' Don't you ever ask anyone for anything?"

"No, I am the head of this empire, the one who wears the crown. I ask for nothing, I only receive." He closed the distance she had made when she pulled away by tugging her closer. He nuzzled his nose against the side of her face. "And in this moment of honesty I must confess I've never wanted anything so badly." He felt her chuckle against him. 

"I almost hate to deny you."

"You wont," he answered, meaning his words to be a prophecy. He would make them truth, one way or the other.

"You're only human, Madara. The devils of my world aren't things you can stand against, and I have to keep running, have to keep fighting, have to keep trying….least they devour me."

"You wouldn't have to run if you stayed with me. No satanic or heavenly power could possibly claw you from my side if that was my desire."

Sakura didn't laugh or smile. There was no subtle curve to the outline of her lips, and her eyes were dull when cast over his shoulder. She made a sound that resembled a stifled groan and squeezed the shoulder she held onto with her right hand. 

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," she whispered.

The waltz was loud and demanding of attention in the background, but Madara faltered in his steps and fell out of the waltz to turn Sakura in his arms, holding her, while looking behind him to see the black sulfur creature with long ears and white eyes standing across the balcony. Something on four legs crouched alongside it with hunched shoulders and two rows of teeth in its mouth, one behind the other.

"What is that?" Madara hissed, reaching for his saber with his free hand without hesitation. The animal at the demon's side snapped his teeth and Madara saw how long it's ears were. It was a fox, a black fox made out of darkness and ash with a fire heart that glowed throughout the body.

"My demon. I thought I might have been safer here, but I guess there is no dominion I can flee to between the woods and the kingdom that isn't under his power. How pitiful."

Instead of pressing up against him or hiding behind him, Sakura pulled out a long japanese sword with a bone handle inscribed with carvings of scorpions and wolves. The Scrimshaw sheath dangled from her free hand, detailed with the same beautiful artisan work. Absently, he made a mental note about the scorpions on her sword, wondering as to their significance.

"Sakura stay back," he commanded, his voice deeper and heavier than before. It was the voice of a prince who would be king. Of a man who would be emperor. Of a boy who would be Czar.

"I thought you would have noticed by now, Madara, that I'm the only person in your life you can't boss around. This is my demon, not yours."

She extended her sword arm and her blade followed like an extension of her limb. The stories of the saint said she used knives and a rifle, but he hadn't heard about how she wielded a sword. By the looks of it, she was expert with her blade of choice. In the moonlight, it almost seemed to glow a soft blue silver along the edges.

The demon snarled and from his side, the beast fox opened its mouth and out poured a black mass that transformed into a stampeding herd of bulls Sakura charged for. Madara took off after her, his own safety of no concern, and angled his sword out to slice through the first bull while she vaulted over it's horns to slash away at the second and third. She used few strokes, but each one was purposeful and took apart her beast enemies in a moment.

She leapt up over the fallen bodies of her enemies and when she touched down, they were ash along the cobblestone. Under the wind the folds of her dress flapped wild and Madara caught a glimpse of the pale skin of her ankles and the delicate curve of her bones sticking out. She was such a tiny thing, but she was in the dirt of danger ahead of him, making her hands filthy.

She leveled her sword as another wave of animals poured forth, each set less threatening than the last. Rams, Cats, dogs, hawks…. It was apparently very early on that Madara was, at best, an afterthought in the demon's mind. The black creature couldn't care less about the crowned prince. His enemy was the saint. That only served to enrage Madara all the more. Not only was he being ignored, his treasured one was being targeted while he was being pushed back by wave after wave of monster beasts made of out black ash.

"Sakura!" Madara roared, hoping to summon her to his side. They could regroup together and he could keep a better eye on her from where he struggled. " _ Moi _ Sakura!"

The fox himself launched itself at her and Sakura swung her whole body into a decisive blow that flashed with the fox's claws in a flurry of sparks that screamed and hissed with heat. She screamed a battle cry and the lights around them grew blinding. The demon dressed all in black hissed and threw up his hands to shield against the light a millisecond before Madara could. It lasted only a second, glowing brilliantly, and fading just as quickly as it came.

' _ We hid this world inside an egg,' _ a voice echoed in the whiteness before the blinding light became less.

And just like an invention of the darkness, Sakura was gone with the light. For a moment, Madara was stunned numb by the absence and then shook by it.

"Sakura," he called once. Then, louder and deeper in the voice of a Czar, "Sakura!"

There was no response and the dread grew vicious in his gut. A snake coiled around his heart.

" _ Sakura _ !" 

One of his men came running from inside, eyes wide, hands ready to hold a sword for his prince.

"Tsarevich?" Shisui asked, voice hesitant.

Madara pivoted on his heel, still searching for a shred of her, a sign or trace or track to prove her existence. His knuckles were white underneath his gloves and his saber rattled. Shisui didn't dare approach his prince, or dare to speak in his presence once again.

The echo of something he wasn't sure he actually heard reverberated inside his head...  ' _ We hid this world inside an egg, and the egg was cracked open _ .'

* * *

_ "If the moon smiled, she would resemble you.  
_ _ You leave the same impression  
_ _ Of something beautiful, but annihilating." _

_   
_ _ -Sylvia Plath _

* * *

It was hours before Madara returned to the interior walls of his castle, and by then it was early morning and most of the Boyer were dead asleep in their own homes and beds. The ballroom was left a mess, but the maids would see to it in the later mornings after the sun came up.

Madara's mood was a cross between uncaring and foul. The world around him was a mess of leftover splendor and he couldn't care about any of it. His searching had proved a worthless endeavor. Even after enlisting the aid of some of his men and the hounds, nothing could be found of the saint.

Madara came in through the back and was going to cut straight to the hallway leading to his room, but paused outside the separate room where he had his cards read to him last night. Not knowing why, he turned in and approached the table that had been left behind from the night before. The witch was gone, and so was the tent, but the table remained behind, and it had something on it. Madara took a step closer and stopped.

Still face up and on the fabric was the card for The Queen of Swords. Nothing else, no other card or cards, was left behind. In the picture, a woman with rosy pink hair sat atop a throne with one hand outstretched, palm up, offering peace. In the other she held aloft her scrimshaw-handled katana. Around her, delicate white ankles grew a thicket of blood red poppies. Her crown was a laurel of gold leaves standing high on point, reaching for the empty sky.

Removing his gloves, the pads of his fingertips traced the fabric of the card, resting on her face. Her eyes were solid stones focused on a point with unwavering certainty.

Was that a future he would be a part of?

In one fluid movement, he scooped the card up and slipped it into the pocket above his breast within his jacket. It weighed almost as much as the cloud in his mind that was stripped with lightning and adorned with thunder.

He felt a stabbing behind his eyes and narrowed them into a polished glare. A tear of red pooled under the corner of his lids and snaked down his pale face.

" _ I always get what I want." _

His eyes flashed red.

* * *

**_The world is made new_ **

"This is the story of how I never stopped running. This is the story of how, when the wolves knocked, I met them at the door and I became the beast, instead."   
— Ashe Vernon,   
from "Little Red," Belly of the Beast

* * *

So ends the story of the Monarch Woods

  
**Enter the Kingdom of Beasts**

~


	4. KOB 1

**OBELISK**

###  The Kingdom of Beasts

**Part 1**

* * *

Sakura sat with her legs crossed underneath her sprawling skirts, making herself a royal mess on the floor. Karin had changed out of her costume as soon as they got home, and Ami had removed her skirts to stand in a pink and cream french bodice and biker shorts, making Sakura the only one still in her Halloween costume from the ball. A part of her didn't want to let go of it.

Across from her, Jugo and Suigetsu reclined in their dorky half hearted halloween costumes. Suigetsu was a ninja and Jugo was a samurai. Actually, it wasn't fair to call Jugo's costume half hearted, because a lot of work went into it and it looked really cool, even if there was no armor. He wore the pelted pants and a simple robe styled top with wide, flaring sleeves and carried a heavy katana that was kept blunt. In contrast, Suigetsu wore all black and tied a black cloth over the bottom half of his face. He had a few paper throwing stars that Karin helped him make, but…he was wearing the same jeans from last week. It was a last ditch costume he put together only after Karin invited the pair of them to Sakura's for games and movies.

Sakura peeked back inside her gift bag to remind her that their trip to the Gramophone ball was not in vain. She got a new watch and complementary earrings in matching rose gold. It was a good score, but the ball had been a bust better off forgotten. As soon as it became possible, the trio made for the exit and agreed to spend the rest of the night playing games at Sakura's. Karin had called the boys to make it a party and even though it wasn't wild, it was nice.

They were finishing up a round of two truths and a lie after 'Never Have I Ever,' and Cards against Humanity.

Jugo was studying Sakura carefully, since she was the person to his left as well as the person he needed to guess on. He made a frowning face. 

"Okay, please repeat them again, I need to think this over." Sakura smiled knowingly, proud of her statements. 

"First, I trained to be a professional mermaid for a summer at a resort aquarium in the city. Second, I've taken kickboxing lessons for five years. Lastly, I was valedictorian when I graduated high school with Karin, and gave a modestly kick ass speech that helped me get into the college of my choice on a scholarship."

"I didn't go to the same high school so I wouldn't know, but I could totally see you as valedictorian. But I could also see you training to be a mermaid, cause of… like… your personality is good for a line of work where you have to entertain people, and you like mermaids…" Jugo shook his head, groaning in frustration. 

Karin laughed behind her hand and Sakura sent her a glare. Karin didn't think Sakura had a personality for the entertainment industry, but Jugo didn't need to believe that. He was actually pretty sweet in his opinion of her so far. Everything out of his mouth had been flattering and complementary. Jugo looked up from his hands. 

"I think you did kickboxing, but five years is a long time…I'm going to guess that one is your lie."

"Wrong!" Karin laughed, falling over next to Suigetsu, "You were really close though."

"How was I close? What was the lie?" Jugo threw his hands up in frustration. Sakura waved at the two to get their attention. 

"Actually you weren't really that close. I was never valedictorian, even though I was almost chosen for my amazing intellect, I had some fights on my record from younger years, so they didn't want me representing the school."

"The kickboxing makes sense now," Ami drawled, lazily, staring at her nails.

"Oh no, it was a knife fight when I got caught. But yes, the kickboxing did help." Sakura laughed cheerily. Suigetsu hadn't been drinking, but he sputtered and choked on his own breath, missing how Karin smiled knowingly. 

"A knife fight? What the hell were you into? I thought you were a goody two shoes."

"She was," Karin butted in. " _ I _ was the one that wanted to cut her."

"Yeah, but I carried my own knife," Sakura was quick to add, not minding the looks of disbelief being passed between the two males. Ami only looked mildly interested, since she went to the same school and heard the rumors well enough to know of the legendary hate that existed between the two girls growing up.

"Only because I made it necessary," Karin replied, "If it had been up to you, I think you would have stayed to your brass knuckles. Do you still have those anymore?" Sakura shook her head, pressing her lips together in mock frustration. 

"Can't remember whatever happened to them. Maybe that's a good thing. I don't need them anymore, do I?" she asked with a wicked smile that Karin knew to be teasing.

"You guys are kind of crazy," Ami set her hands down and looked away from her nails, "But you make a decent pumpkin pie. Do we have any of that left or do I need to polish off the cherry?"

"The only one we're out of is the apple," Sakura replied, standing up and teetering on her sleepy legs before heading into the kitchen to serve Ami a slice of pie. She could hear the group putting on an episode of the Twilight Zone and getting everything set up for movie watching. Karin was with them so they would be sure to be extra careful with the furniture that technically wasn't hers.

"Can I help with anything?"

Sakura turned to see Jugo standing at the edge of the kitchen, hesitating on the threshold. When his eyes met hers he smiled in good nature. Sakura handed him a slice of cherry pie and nodded to the slice of pumpkin she was carrying. 

"This is for Ami, but you wanna hold mine while I give her this?"

"Sure," he said. Sakura didn't doubt he meant it.

He seemed highly agreeable to anything she suggested and she had picked up on it. It took a while to notice his attraction, because Juugo was agreeable and nice and sweet with everyone, but the tip off had been in how he followed her around and sought her out. It was in his choices. He chose to go where she went, he chose to sit down next to her, he chose to play the games she wanted to play and watch the movies she wanted to watch, but he hadn't asked her out yet, and it didn't seem like he was planning on it. There were plenty of opportunities and Sakura had mentally prepared herself to let him down easy with an excuse of school stress and work, but she never had to. Maybe Karin had said something.

Either way, it was better for her this way. She didn't want to have to feel bad about not telling him the real reason she was emotionally unavailable. For a second, she faltered in her step and felt the pinch in her heart. Red hair, sleepy eyes, smoke on his lips, ohhh a wicked set of lips…

She shook herself free of the thoughts and returned to the living room where everyone was sitting against pillows or on couches to see the television. Not surprising, Jugo sat down next to her after she handed Ami her slice of pie.

Karin was closest to the wall, so she flipped the lights off after pressing the play button on the remote. Tonight, their Twilight Zone marathon was going to be about good old fashioned suspense and horror.

The screen began to blur and parts of it became bright in Sakura's vision. She felt the lightness in her head grow and knew she wouldn't make it through the rest of the movie. Not knowing what was happening, Jugo offered her his shoulder and she slipped down against it, resting the side of her face against his samurai shirt. She could see his katana and wondered why the eagle with an arrow through its heart seemed so familiar.

Someone might have just sucker punched her for how it all felt when she slipped deeper than the deep dreams of men and women. There was smoke, but also frost, filling her throat and she knew where she was going. The Kingdom was calling, and she had finished bleeding for it. There was nothing left to protect her now.

She woke on the hillside of a mountain where grass grew high and thick.

"Sai?"

She waited.

"Kimimaro?"

She stood and tilted. The hillside was covered in high grass, but it was also littered with bodies. Most of the time, when a hill or field is covered in bodies, they're dead, and this time was no exception, but in addition to being dead, most of the bodies were shredded and in pieces. Exposed skeletons poked out of fleshy bodies of rotting flesh. The left half side of a man's face poked up out of the grass, exposing the outline of his brain and spine.

Her dream belly wasn't full, but she retched in the grass anyway. They smelled old.

There was a soft hand tracing the contour of her shoulder blades and she looked up to see Sai bent over her with a look of concern marking his features. When her eyes met his, the concern became hidden in his features, almost as if he was subconsciously hiding his feelings from her.

"Do I look that bad?" she asked with a raw voice that needed water. She shook her head and moved away from her vomit, imagining a water glass in her hand she could tip back. It came a second later and she drank, gargled, and spit, but not in that order.

"You are dressed in the gown from the Monarch Woods."

Sakura looked down and saw that she was still wearing the costume she had sewn together for the Gramophone Ball. While the dress wasn't that identifiable, the headdress was clearly Russian.

"No, this was what I was wearing when I fell asleep. It's a costume. My friends and I dressed up in period costume for this stupid party. I…don't know why I'm still in it."

Feeling the shakes settle in her knees, she stood and let the glass in her hand turn to nothing as she dreamed it away before doing the same with her dress, leaving her in a pair of skinny, black yoga pants and a loose band tee. Her hair was free and loose against her face now. She turned to Sai and smiled. 

"Better?"

"Do you miss the Monarch Woods? As long as you are in this kingdom, you can still go back."

Her stomach rolled a bit at her last memories of the Monarch Woods and whatever was left in her threatened to come up and join her vomit. 

"No thank you. I don't think that would be a good idea. Let's focus on this world now." She looked back out to the field but didn't look too closely, "Where are we?"

"The Kingdom of Beasts. You are witnessing the devastation of one of the Nine."

"The what?" Sai waited till she looked at him before continuing. 

"There are nine great beasts who ravage this land. The world is solved, essentially, when they are all defeated. This is the handiwork of the  _ Shukaku _ , or the one tailed monster. He is the only one of the nine you will not have to fight. This narrative begins after his departure from this world," Sai hesitated, staring at the less obvious gouges in the ground, "But…you will have to fight him, eventually, just not here."

"Does that mean there are eight left for me to take down?" When he nodded, Sakura hummed in good cheer, "Cool, I got a freebee."

"The others will be no easy challenge. I would advise you to learn from your battle with the Elephant Wolf. These creatures are not ones you can take down on your own. You will need companions… actors to aid you." Sakura looked out over the devastation again. 

"If the monsters do this much damage, I can't imagine the people of this world wouldn’t be happy to see them destroyed. Will it be hard to connivence people to fight with me?"

"That is all dependent upon you and how you choose to move through the narrative. With dreamers in the past, it has always been an issue, but I have reason to believe that the pride that kept lesser men for seeking out help from others is not something that exists within you. For the first time in a long time, I am hopeful for the dreamer."

"I should hope so. I wouldn't have made it this far without your help and belief in me… or your friendship. Thank you, I don't think I've ever properly expressed that." Sakura smiled wryly to herself as she remembered the inherent distrust she regarded Sai with. In the beginning she had been less than friendly with the quiet being of smoke and dejection. "I'm also sorry for the way I treated you in the beginning. That was wrong of me. I should have been kinder."

"You found me frightening," he said with a shrug, as if that explained it all, "Most do."

There was a wind in the air that made her loose hair a wild mess around her face. She grunted, reaching up to move her hair out of her line of vision and pin back against the side of her head with a barrette that was bright and rainbow colored. Sai looked at the colored hair ornament with a raised eyebrow but Sakura just shrugged. 

"I like what I like."

"As you wish."

Sakura turned her eyes back to the field and looked again, steeling her resolve so that the sight wouldn't disgust her so much. She had dreams of becoming a doctor one day after she had enough money to pay for the medical school her meager scholarships couldn't cover. Dead bodies didn't usually disturb her, but the smell was harder to handle. Breathing through her mouth, she made an effort to get closer to the scene of the fight and examine the bodies.

Based off of what they died dressed in, Sakura could get a better idea of what time period or world theme she had to work with for this level. The first man she came upon was missing half his face, as it appeared to have been sandblasted clear off. The rest of his body was in decent enough condition though. She recognized his means of dress from the way Jugo showed up. This body wore a traditional, Japanese robe style shirt with pleated pants and minimal armor. A discarded katana lay off to the side.

Sakura looked a few more over and found most of them were dressed the same way. Others have more elaborate sets of armor and a few didn't even wear shirts, or didn't have shirts left after the fight. At the base of the hill were the bodies of a few horses and their riders tossed off in the fall. These men had full sets of armor. Some were more colorful than others, and many of them had customized helmets of varying designs. She reached down to pull free a helmet and inspect the crescent moon welded across the brow. Sai came up behind her and kneeled. 

"Does this world seem familiar in any way?"

"A little, mostly from movies, but my dad was stationed at the Okinawa Prefecture when I was born, so even though we're not Japanese, he always loved the culture and tried to incorporate it into our lives. This reminds me of when I was young, before he left." Sakura tossed the helmet back, not caring for the sandblasted face it had come from. She smiled ruefully. 

"There's this popular movie called the Magnificent Seven that I've always loved. An important part of the plot of the story is devoted to this character finding and enlisting skilled warriors to protect and defend this village from bandits, and while bandits might not be the same as beasts big enough to knock down horses, it has a feeling of familiarity to it." Sai hid his frown but Sakura caught a hint of it in his eyes. 

"You do not sound enthusiastic about the layout to this world," he guessed.

"I'm not. It reminds me of my dad. That means complicated, bitter sweet feelings."

"You are not close with your father?" Sakura made a face, scrunching up her nose and squinting her eyes. 

"Nah, it's more complicated than that, but it's not the time for bad memories. Help me figure out where I should go, or where I should look to find Kimimaro. He should be here with you." Sai didn't look too eager to be talking about Kimimaro, and seemed to ignore it when he answered her. 

"Where do you think you should go in order to best advance the narrative? One beast is already disposed of, remember."

"Yeah, but I need allies first… I need to build up a team that can help me." Sakura stood on her tippy toes and scanned the horizon, "Where do I go to find the nearest village or town? The people there will know something, and I can build off of whatever is there." She turned back to look at Sai pleadingly, not minding how her hair was getting in the way again when the wind picked up, "Oh wise and worthy one, what is the direction I must take?" Sai let his shoulders sag and almost closed his eyes to her. Turning, he pointed to a hill that was close by and free of bodies. 

"Make that your vantage point and decide where you will go. There is more than one path you might take."

Sakura didn't waste any time, and sprinted for the hill that was farther away than what it originally seemed. When she approached it, she understood immediately what Sai meant. Struggling against the wind, Sakura held both of her hands against the sides of her face to keep her hair pinned back as she looked out over the rest of the dream world. Down below was a simple village, but off to what looked like the West was a fishing village that rested on the cusp of the ocean. Further East was another larger village surrounded by forests and beyond that were specks she suspected of being more villages hidden in stone and trees.

"Which one first?" she asked, shouting over the wind to be heard. Sai was too far away to hear or reply, but she heard his voice in her head all the same. 

" _ You _ must decide."

Sakura woke up in her own bed, dressed in her happy sushi silk pajamas pants and a plain red cami. She rolled over, wincing at the light let into her room, and noticed another body close by. Karin dozed with her mouth partly open, a small pool of drool collecting in the corner of her lips and spilling out onto her chin every now and then.

Karin must have helped Sakura up and into bed before passing out alongside her. Sakura felt bad, and wondered how the others fared, when she heard soft footfalls outside the door to her room. Knocking softly on the already opened door, Ami pushed it the rest of the way open and waved with a tired smile.

"I heard you get up." Sakura blinked and then yawned loudly. 

"Oh…okay…uh, yeah, wow. Have you been awake long?" Ami shrugged. 

"I woke up and then fell back asleep. I just heard you, so I decided to actually get up. How did you sleep? You were out like a dead man last night. Jugo had to carry you to bed. He was so nice about it too. Karin was worried, you don't normally sleep so soundly."

"Since when? I always sleep soundly," Sakura said around a yawn. She still felt tired, like she wanted to go back to bed and sleep some more. She dropped her face back into the pillow and moaned against the fabric. If Karin could sleep in, then she could too.

As if being mentally called, the sleepy redhead stirred in the sheets before cracking open an eye. She took a weak glance about the room before cursing and dropping her face back down. Ami poked Karin's legs and moved them aside so she could crawl in between the two girls.

Ami's hair was long black silk across the pillows and Sakura wanted to play with it. She always loved long hair, and had been growing hers out for a while. It was hard to keep long when it was always being dyed and dried out. She got a trim every three months, but often went longer when she felt like it would help her hair grow.

Sakura remembered having shorter hair in high school that hung limp and flat around her face without style. She was young and naive to the world of the internet and fashion bloggers. If she had short hair now, she could make it work with a few tricks. Sakura shook her head and sat up in bed. 

"Okay, now I can't go back to sleep. What do you want for breakfast, Ami?" Karin lifted her head with a wounded look. 

"Meeeeh?" she breathed noisily.

Ami stuck her tongue out at Karin when she thought Sakura wasn't looking.

Sakura pulled her kimono style robe off the head of her floor lamp and tied it around her waist before heading downstairs. Ami got up to follow without another word, but the smile on her face spoke volumes. Casting a sly look over her shoulder Sakura made eye contact with the younger girl. 

"Don't look so haughty. I'm putting you to work, young lady."

"Not a problem," Ami replied in sing-song. She looked giddier than she had a right to.

"What's got you in such a good mood?"

"Karin and I were making bets about you last night and I lost, but at least I can tell you about them and get my payback, and besides… I like hanging out with you."

Sakura groaned at the harsh light when she opened her fridge for milk and juice. Ami was already pulling back the curtains for fresh sunlight and turning on the coffee maker. It was ancient and gurgled to life with warm water already in the top.

"A part of me wants to know, and a part of me knows better than to ask. Are you going to tell me what happened between you and Karin anyway?" Ami appeared more hesitant as she pulled a trio of coffee mugs down off the shelf. 

"Oh…well it had to do with you and Jugo. Karin, I think, wants him to ask you out or something. I said I thought the man from the Orchard was cuter and a better fit."

"Neither has asked me out, so how did you lose?" Sakura asked, keeping her back to the girl as she pulled down everything she needed for pancakes. She paused with the contents of the cake mix already in her bowl, "Actually, I take that back. Never mind, I don't want to know. Do you want any fruit in your pancakes? I usually add bananas and blubbery to mine."

"No cherry or strawberry?" Ami asked.

"This is how my grandmother made them growing up. They just taste right this way to me." Ami waited a moment before asking. 

"Do you even have any blueberries?" Sakura turned to look in her fridge and frowned when she pulled out a carton with three miniature blueberries rolling around inside. 

"Eh, I guess not. Groceries don't stretch like they used to. I'm already at the end of my paycheck and I'm always hungry like this."

"Sounds like you need a roommate," Ami surmised, watching the coffee drip into the mug underneath it's spout, "Someone who would be willing to pay rent."

"I already thought about that, but because this property isn't legally mine, I have to follow my mom's rules in regards to things like that. She doesn't want another person living here in fear of things being taken or damaged and no matter how much I talk to her about it, her mind is an impassable fortress. She won't be swayed."

"Not even if my mother asked her for a favor?"

Sakura paused and looked up from her batter. Ami was smirking and her eyes were full of cunning. Ami came from a blue blood type family that had wealth, power, and respect among most circles. People like Sakura's mom wanted to be a part of that circle. Gaining favor with Ami's mother was something Sakura's mother valued a great deal.

"You could try…" Sakura weakly surmised, letting her gaze drift as her mind whirred with new thoughts, "But yeah, that might work. How badly do you think you can connivence your parents that this is something you want."

"I can do better than that. This is something I  _ need _ in order to reintroduce myself to mainstream society and build up social connections." Ami batted her eyes and played the innocent princess daughter bit, "They wouldn't stand a chance against me, especially not daddy."

"The extra rent money would be nice, but why would you want to live here with me? It's such an out of the way place. It's rural, too. You get bugs and stuff. You hate bugs." It was a while before Ami answered, and by then Sakura had flipped the first pancake into the glass dish. 

"You wouldn't understand what it's like to go so long without friends. I'm not good at… being nice to people or being a good friend. It doesn't make sense why the two of you stay around as long as you do. I've been a bitch and I'll always be a bitch, but I'm lonely." She pulled out the mug that was filled with coffee and exchanged it for an empty one that still needed to be filled, "Is it so hard to believe I want friends?" Sakura flipped another pair of miniature pancakes into the glass dish and sighed. 

"No, no it isn't, and I understand more than you think you know."

Sakura was back on the hilltop overlooking the world below her. There were a lot more places to visit and explore in this world than in the Monarch Woods, but that made sense. The Kingdom would naturally be larger than its Gate.

"Have you made a decision, yet?" Sai asked from somewhere behind her.

From the hill, Sakura could see the fishing village and watched it as the waves came in and out with more and more single sized boats for fishermen and women. Sakura had been watching this village the longest and noticed the way the villagers would avoid certain parts of the water as if they were magnetized away from the sites marked with floating buoys.

"Is there a beast that torments the fishing village?" Sakura asked.

" _ Isobu _ , the three tailed crab, one of the least elusive of the beasts because it's history with the village. Every year they send out a local maiden to 'wed' the beast."

Sakura made a face in disgust, already imagining the rest. It was typical of traditional mythology. Virgin girls, every year, get sent out into the water to be drowned and eaten, get sent up to the mountain to be eaten, to the forest to be eaten, down a well, over a wall…the examples stretched on in her memory. There were too many narratives that were like this one. It wasn't hard to see how this would end.

"I think that's a good place to start."

Sakura stood and leapt down, giving no caution to how far she would have to run, because she knew she would never grow tired. Her elevation gave her an advantage. Being as high up as she was, Sakura could jump and neatly glide across the mountain side before touching down and running the rest of the way before jumping out again.

As she ran, Sakura thought back to the other towns she saw while on the hill and wondered what their stories were. Did they all have a narrative so clearly lifted from common mythology as well? What were the other beasts like, and how elusive would they be once she started hunting them down?

It took longer than Sakura would have liked, but just like in video games, it wasn't too long before the closest town came into range. She was almost tired when she slowed to a normal paced run outside the skirts of the village. There were houses and huts scattered in widely spaced plots, but the bulk of the village stood behind heavy low walls made of earth and stone and painted with plaster. The Kanji for Water was written over the arch she had to walk under in order to get into the village. It was all much larger than she first assumed it to be. Just because she could see almost all of it from her perch, didn't mean the same could be said when she was in the midst of skinny houses and open markets filled with Japanese men and women dressed for village life.

A few villagers looked at her oddly, but didn't hold their gazes on her for long before busying themselves with whatever they were doing prior, pretending they weren't interested in her appearance. Visitors didn't seem to be very common. Sakura looked down at the plain black get up she sported and eyed an elderly woman in a yukata. Blinking, Sakura melted her band tee and yoga pants into something a bit more fitting for the culture she found herself immersed in.

The business of slaying the crab beast was important, but Sakura knew she would be useless if she didn't know anything, so she set out to mingle and maybe pick up some chatter. If video games ever taught her anything, it was to always stock up and make friends before a boss fight. (And save so that you don't lose all your work when you eventually lose.)

There were merchants lining the isles of main street, and down an ally there was a path marked that would take you to a local smithery judging by the sounds of harsh iron. Sakura saw plenty of food stalls and cloth stalls, most having ocean or sea themes going on, but noticed something missing before too much exploring was done.

It was a reason why a lot of the villagers still gave her looks in spite of her wardrobe change. Old ladies stared at her over their shoulders, pretending not to see, and younger men watched her like she was something that might ghost away. Sakura turned, scanning the immediate area for any sign of them, but found no trace of young females in the village at all. Not even among the children in the streets…there were no young women or girls. Not a single one.

Something must have changed in her expression as the revelation dawned upon her, because a few of the older men started to stand up and move closer. The older ladies turned away and scurried inside and no one minded the children. Sakura saw a young boy curse and throw down the cloth he was using to wipe down his blade before turning and heading back inside. His eyes were angry and his fists were white at the knuckles.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up as the two eldest men approached her, while the rest hung back, forming an impromptu circle in case she tried to run.

"Lovely," she muttered under her breath, backing up towards the ally that led to the smithy. She imagined a small short blade called a tanto, used by the wives of Samurai, behind her back. Dreaming up a sword would be too noticeable and she wanted to see if she could avoid such bloodshed.

"Gentlemen," she greeted the group, looking nervously between the two elders and the rest of the group. They were all smiling and trying to look inviting. "You are making this young woman very nervous. Is there something I have done to earn your displeasure?" The shortest man in the nicest clothes stepped forward to speak, smiling around his beady spectacles. 

"A thousand apologies young lady. We could not help but notice you are an outsider and wanted to properly welcome you to the village of Mizu." In her mind Mizu translated into  _ water _ . "If you desire food or lodgings, one of our esteemed establishments would be more than willing to extend itself to you for the best price imaginable."

"I hadn't planned on staying at a hotel here," Sakura answered, wording her sentences carefully. She didn't know what would set them off.

"Then you are visiting someone in town?"

"I'm sorry, but do you interrogate all your visitors in such a manner?" She kept her voice firm, but didn't abandon the sweet tone that reminded them she was a lady. 

"You can not fault us for being cautious when a stranger walks in. Our village has a reputation that is unjustly cruel, and we are being careful in our efforts to preserve what is left of our village pride. Do you have travel papers?"

Sakura didn't. She could dream some up and pull them out of her yukata, but she had no idea what they would need to look like in order for them to pass as official. Should she show them her papers from the monarch woods? She reached inside her robe, fingertips hesitant before pinching the paper in her hand. She pulled them out halfway when stopped. 

"I hadn't assumed I would be interrogated so and I'm afraid they might not be in order. I want to head to where I am going and meet with my acquaintance before disclosing my information."

"Oh, and where would that be, traveler lady?" The sound of angry iron rang out and Sakura prayed she wasn't making a mistake. All she had were her wits to work with.

"I was heading to the smithery, of course. Will you let me pass?"

"Of course," the short man in glasses gleefully exclaimed, gesturing with his hand for her to go and walk down the alley ahead of him to where the hammer rang loud. He and another older man walked behind her, but the rest of the townsmen dissipated, going off to do whatever they had been doing earlier. Sakura breathed a little easier, thinking she would have more luck outrunning two old men as opposed to ten.

Her steps were short but she ended outside the worn house in no time, hearing the metal hammering coming from out behind the house. There was a small, low fence made of stone along the side of the house with a small opening she could hop over easy enough. She didn't pause or wait to see if the older men could manage that without trouble.

The heat hit her before she was even close. There was a sweltering furnace fed by mighty bellows and next to it stood a long trough of water and a sturdy anvil. It didn't resemble the medieval smithies Sakura was used to seeing in illustrated textbooks. All the tools were arranged in a streamline fashion and the furnace was simple and low to the ground. On the far row was a wall where katanas were hung in their sheaths.

In the shade, a burly man worked, hammering as loudly as he pleased, folding the same sword over and over again on itself before sticking it back into the fire and turning on the trio with angry shark black eyes.

"What do you want?" He was still crouched down in front of the fire but rose when he spotted Sakura beside the two men. His full height was impressive, dwarfing the two men who couldn't be much taller than 5'4'' and 5'6''. The man who stood with soot on his face was well over six feet, a giant in all respects made up of nothing but hardened muscle and grit.

There was a sound off to the side and Sakura saw out of the corner of her eye a second man look out from the crack between the sliding rice screen door and the wall before the door slid shut again. She almost felt bad about bringing trouble with her, but she had thought fast, not smart.

"Kisame, your dedication to your craft is unpar-"

"Enough," Kisame cut the tiny man off with a glare. "What are you two doing here without a reason? You have not commissioned my services in years."

"Ah yes, but business has been-" The giant man cut them off with a growl before looking over at Sakura. He stared her in the eye for a second before looking her up and down. He didn't say anything, he didn't ask anything, but he made a grunt like he was satisfied with his observations from the shadows. 

"I asked a question. Last time I checked we weren't running an escort service, Gato." The man named Gato coughed before pushing up his glasses. 

"Ah yes, but this young lady came into town looking for you and, how unusual indeed, we took it upon ourselves to dedicate our time in seeing that she safely reaches you before producing papers of certified identification."

The mane named Kisame must have noticed her flinch, since his eyes swiveled over to her figure before settling back on Gato. If it was at all possible, the already impossibly tall man inhaled and increased in size, expanding his arms wide and stepping forward, out of the shadows and into the light. Sakura held back her gasp of surprise to see him in the light and take in the extraordinary condition of his body. He was blue. It was light, but his pale skin was tinted with the color blue.

"What the hell do you need those for? Is my word not good enough for you? My business partners have to jump through hoops for you now, is that it? What kind of village do you think you're running if everyone has to show off their papers to you? We ain't deserving of this!" he roared, taking a threatening step forward, "I'll give you my papers old man."

"No need-n-no-no need!" Gato quickly shouted, tripping on his heels as he backed away, chasing after his short friend. He stopped at the gate, holding either side of the stone wall before leaving the rest of the way. "We only wish to see that our visitors are properly treated and cared for. We will be back to make sure."

"Like hell you will!" Kisame roared, and Sakura could see his teeth were filed down to points, or naturally elongated to make his mouth like a shark's. With Gato and his goon gone, Kisame rounded on Sakura, his anger not yet fully abetted. 

"And now you…" he started. "Who are you and what are you doing here, you stupid girl? Only an idiot wouldn't know better to make a trip to the village of the bloody mist."

He didn't wait for her to reply, but instead returned to his forge, moving around things he didn't need in favor of things he did need. It was as if he didn't care she was in his yard taking up space and watching him carefully.

"Thank you," Sakura said, swallowing. "My name is Sakura." He made a grunt as if he didn't care, but then a moment later he spoke. 

"What are you doing here, Sakura?" Kisame asked from the darkest shadows. She took a breath with the words ready, but then stopped and re-thought her choice in words. She shook the old thoughts away before speaking finally. 

"I'm here about the virgin sacrifices. The next one is due soon, isn't it?" Kisame paused with his hands raised before turning to glare at her from under the shade. 

"No. You're not here for that."

"The village seems pretty desperate. Do you have a sacrifice ready?" He stalked out of the shadows and pulled himself up to his full height. 

"You had better leave. You're not welcome here."

"No, I think I am welcome here, and it's because you're low on options." Sakura chose her words carefully, piecing together what she knew of the village so far. They didn't have any young women left, but they had her. "I mean, it would be awfully convenient if you didn't have to shell out one of your own to meet quota, right? That's not to say I  _ want _ to be a sacrifice, but it's kind of my reason for being here."

"Are you mental or something?" he asked, sounding sickened. "Who would want that?"

"It's not a question of wanting or not. The sacrifice is happening, regardless of whether I want it to or not, and it's going to keep happening until people put a stop to it." He took a step closer, almost coming out of the shadows, but Sakura didn't flinch, and that must have meant something to him since his face flickered with the changing of emotions. 

"And you know someone who's going to do that?" he asked cynically. It sounded like he wanted to mock her but couldn't because the subject was too deep for that sort of loose rhetoric.

"I'm going to try."

"You?" He raised an eyebrow, not believing her. "With what? You look too small to hold a dinner knife."

She thought of her fight with Orochimaru, and of her battles with the mad wolves. She thought of the blood and wounds her body knew and wanted to smack him in that moment with the bruised backside of her knuckles. The knuckles she scraped raw on the flesh of her enemies. In an instant she drew herself up, her posture transforming into something that came from her core. Her thoughts were murder and it must have shown on her face because the burly blacksmith wasn't looking at her with anything other than caution.

"I'm sorry if you thought I was being half hearted or ignorant, but I don't think I'm worth that criticism. Not from you, and not yet, not when you don't know anything of me." Her words were laced with ice. Kisame didn't say anything right away after watching her harden from flower into steel right before his eyes. He slunk back into his shadows and turned his shoulder to her, not willing to look at her straight on anymore. 

"I'm not a kind person, so don't expect that from me," he gruffly bit out. He glared at her from the corner of his eye. "What do you need here?"

"I'm in the village looking for people who will help me, who will fight alongside me. I don't expect that to be easy, but I have to try. From past experience, I've learned it's not always the wisest to go in alone."

"Hmph, well you have one thing going for you. You don't have a hero complex. The nuts that normally try to kill that demon all think they're Kami's gift to the world and can shoulder it all until they're dead and eaten. Damn pricks…"

Sakura remembered the first time she tried escaping the Monarch Woods without any help. She knew how that story would end, and this time, even with allies, none of them would die alongside her.

"Did you know any of them?" His eyes swiveled over to her, but his body didn't move, "Any of the heroes who tried to kill the crab?"

He turned his body to face her and opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Pressing his lips together he turned and retreated back farther into the shadows before muttering a low, ' _ Yeah _ ,' and nothing more.

Before Sakura could say anything or express her sympathies, the sliding rice screen door slid back and out stepped a figure from inside the house. Sakura turned and thought she saw a woman walking towards her, but the 'woman's' shirt was open and he was clearly male even though his face was too soft and too beautiful and his hair was too long and too silky for masculinity. He stopped in front of her, in some sort of muted awe before remembering himself and bowing politely with his hands folded in front of him. 

"Greetings," his soft voice began. It was a low, masculine voice, but there was a learned softness to it that reminded her of zen gardens and patterns in the gravel. "I beg your forgiveness, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Kisame-san. You plan to offer yourself up in hopes of slaying the beast."

"That's right…and you are?"

"My apologies. I am Hyōton Haku, and an apprentice here under Momochi, Zabuza, and occasionally Hoshigaki, Kisame."

"Sakura," the girl lamely commented, pointing to herself. "I'm a… doctor of sorts, mostly, but um…I do, other things…too." He didn't seem deterred by her lackluster response. As soft as he was, his words were full of confidence. 

"As you observed already, this village has no more daughters to offer. It had been my intention to go in place of the yearly tribute, least they resort to crueler methods." He stopped to delicately lay a hand over his breast bone. "If you intend to fight this monster, I will be your first ally."

"Oh, okay, cool." Sakura wanted to smack herself, because as easy as that had been, she was acting and sounding stupid. "I mean…." She coughed and folded her hands in front of her knees and bowed at the waist like she had seen others do plenty of times. "Thank you Hoyoton Haku, it would be an honor to fight alongside you."

"Oi!" Kisame called out, sounding annoyed, "I thought Momochi forbid you, brat. What are you doing encouraging her?" Politely ignoring Kisame, Haku turned to face Sakura again and bobbed his head a bit. 

"My sensei will not deter me from this path, as he once sought to when I wished to offer myself as sacrifice. It is noble to die in battle and noble to die for the good of others with blood on your sword. He will be our second ally."

Kisame barked something rude from in the shadows but then turned his back and continued working, having given up on the pair of kids.

Haku encouraged her to come inside and meet his sensei, but Sakura felt the familiar pull of the end of her sleep cycle begin to pull her out of her dream. She apologized to Haku and promised she would be back tomorrow to meet Zabuza Momochi, but it was already late and she needed to be somewhere before dark and she was already late.

In her last moments she walked back over to where the line of shadows stopped and stared out at Kisame even though his back was mostly to her. She bowed low and respectful, keeping her head down. 

"Thank you very much for defending me when you had no reason to. I will not forget this kindness."

Kisame looked up from his materials and she thought she saw inflection or emotion on his face, but then he turned away again, muttering a gruff, 'whatever,' to himself. She took a few steps towards the gate when Haku stopped her with a light touch. 

"Come to the house tomorrow before the noon sun in the yard. I wish to speak with you at length alongside my master. Also, bring your weapon."

"I will do my utmost to be there," Sakura replied, not really knowing where she would be the next time she woke up from the real world inside the dream. Still, it was enough for Haku since he smiled softly and let her go.

On her computer, Sakura google searched Japanese blades and came up with a lot of different designs for the katana. There were a few other models and types she looked through, not really knowing which would suit her. Knives and fists were weapons she could use just as well in the real world as in the dream world. Maybe in the dream world she was faster and more accurate for whatever reason, but she knew what she was doing in her mind before she did it. For this new kingdom, the weapon of choice was something she had no idea about.

With nearly an hour left on the train, she pulled up some youtube videos of young men training and studied the motions with a critical eye, pausing and rewinding and slowing down the play so that she could see and know more and more. It looked so easy, but Sakura knew it would be complicated.

When she went back, she would attempt to conjure up an old rifle to see if it would work in the era she was working in. Some of these sites mentioned samurai on horseback fighting men with guns. She didn't know exactly what era she was dreaming in, or what that meant she could use, but it wouldn't hurt to try. She didn't want to pretend she could break the rules and pull out machine guns whenever she wanted. She had been in a heightened state and hadn't known what she was doing when she killed the elephant wolf. That likely wouldn't happen again.

She watched the videos until she had to get off, and doodled all through her Ethics of Medicine, recognizing the lecture from the powerpoint online and her own readings. It was an easy class that left her with a lot of time to let her mind wander. At the end of the day, she had a diagram of all the known Obelisk levels in her notebook alongside a sketch of the blade she wanted when she dreamed again.

Before leaving for the day, she stopped in and met with an advisor she scheduled two weeks ago to talk about the classes she wanted for the next semester. She had an off feeling about it as soon as she walked in and when the older woman pulled up her account she saw why.

"What happened to the President's scholarship?" Sakura asked, seeing an amount due at the bottom of her list of classes, "That should cover it all since I'm taking an honor's class."

"Ah," there was hesitation in the older woman's tone, “The pool for the President's scholarship has dried up. You should have gotten an email about it."

"When?" Sakura asked, feeling panic settle in her chest.

"Last week or this week. The email will explain everything and provide you with steps for securing new academic scholarships."

Sakura shut her eyes and shook her screaming thoughts away before looking back at her class list. Her bill at the bottom was more she made in a year working part time. She would need to take on a loan if she couldn't find anything last minute. 

"What classes can I drop without falling off course?" she asked after a minute.

"Well, the hybrid classes all come with an extra fee and are more expensive. If you chose to switch over to full day classes it would bring the cost down a few hundred dollars."

"But I need to take hybrid classes so I can work to pay for this." She wanted to snap at the advisor that it was stupid to have to pay hundred of dollars more to come in less and take up the teacher's time less. It didn't make sense, but snapping at the adult in charge wouldn't help her.

"We offer several loans with low interest rates for honor students. The federal government has a program out now for…" the voice droned on into obscurity in Sakura's ears. It was all cut and paste rhetoric she had heard before. Would her mother be willing to help pay for some of this? How much did she have in her savings? What could she get for scholarships? What about another job or picking up more hours? How could she learn to use a katana quickly enough?

That last thought sent her mind reeling. Stupid, these were real world problems she had to deal with. The stupid Obelisk could wait. She had adult problems.

"So, what would you like to do about the classes?" her advisor asked.

Sakura looked at two of the classes she wanted to take as a hybrid option. They were Human Physiology and Micro Economics, both boring classes she could teach herself with a textbook and lecture notes. She didn't need to waste two and a half hours on the train everyday to come in for that.

"I…no, we can leave them. I'll find a loan or something to help pay for this. Scholarship applications are still open. I'll…make something work. Thank you. That's all."

The advisor seemed sympathetic to Sakura's situation, but it wasn't like it was a unique case. Most kids in her situation couldn't really afford college if they were working for it. It wasn't anything new.

Sakura felt sick on the train home, and instead of looking at videos or finishing her doodles, she pulled her legs up and stuck in her earbuds. She put her favorite playlist on shuffle and cried as Lorde and Florence and the Machine sang in soulful tones about ruling the world and running with wolves.

Her eyes were red but dried by the time she made it home. Somehow the drive seemed longer than usual and shorter all at once. She didn't really remember any of it. Not even the times she skipped songs on her ipod or almost crushed a Prius when merging lanes.

She stopped at the base of the steps up to the front door and paused to look sideways at the neon blue mustang that looked like it was a streak of electricity in her driveway next to her station wagon. Wasn't that Ami's car?

"Sakura!" The called girl looked up and saw Ami hanging out the door with a bright smile and a bottle of peach schnapps. 

"Guess who's your mom's new best friend. I got a key!"

"Huh?" It took a minute for the words to sink in. Ami rolled her eyes and skipped down till she was one step above Sakura. 

"What we were talking about yesterday. I talked with my mom and she took your mom out to dinner and they worked something out. We came by when you were out I guess, and I've already moved a few things in. Your mom said she wouldn't want this, but I figured you would take this."

Something was pressed into Sakura's hands and she looked down to see an envelope, inside was a check with the first three months paid in advance. Sakura wanted to make the numbers make sense, but it was enough to pay for just over half of her new college bill. She could work and make the money for the rest of it and maybe pick up a small scholarship or loan. It wasn't perfect, but it was something she could work with.

This would work.

"Oh my god," she choked on her words, feeling light all of a sudden. Ami frowned, looking worried. When Sakura looked up Ami noticed her red eyes.

"Were you crying! What happened? Aren't you happy? Is it not enough?" Sakura laughed, new tears leaking through her lashes. 

"No, no, it's all good. You're just sort of a miracle to me right now." She laughed again and reached up to rub her face, a little too aware of how her nose was running and how ugly her skin blotches when she cried. "Let's just eat and drink something, neh?"

Ami looked a mixture of proud and pleased and giddy all at once. Just like a little girl who got praised by her mother, she skipped up ahead of Sakura and led the older girl to a table already decorated with warm food and colorful decorations. Ami held up the bottle and grinned. 

"Just for us?" Sakura took the bottle and found the good glasses her grandmother left behind to pour for both herself and Ami. 

"Yeah." She handed Ami her glass and made sure their rims touched in toast. "To roommates." Ami's smile couldn't get any wider. 

"Roommates."

When Sakura woke up, she was on the edge of the sea, crouched on a large rock overlooking the private cove that smelled strongly of salt and mist in the dark morning before sunrise. It was a smell she knew well and relished. The wind in her hair tickled her goosebumps, and when she opened her eyes Sai was there, standing at the edge of the water all in black.

"Sai." She called out to him and he turned to face her. A second later he held up his hand for her to take. "What are we doing?" she asked, taking his hand anyway.

"You should know what you are going up against."

He yanked on her hand and brought her closer, grabbing her side and pressing it flat against his before dashing off atop the waters as if they were solid surfaces. She almost yelped when she felt herself start to slip, but hugged him tighter and shifted her hips so that they weren't digging into his side, pronounced as they were. Together they were fast, and before long the shore was a sliver in the distance behind them. Sai eventually stopped but didn't let her go. They were farther out than any of the fishermen dared go before the high sun.

"Here?" she asked, feeling anxious. The waters were dark and deep beneath them. She would have trouble seeing even if she didn't need to breathe while in the dream world.

"Here," Sai intoned, dropping her so that she slipped into the folds of the ocean like a pin, straight and true.

Sakura thought she would flounder, but underwater her body remembered itself and all the hours of training into becoming a professional aquatic entertainer that one summer. Heels together, she arched gracefully and pointed herself downwards, guiding herself on with her hands folded atop one another to cut herself a path down. Her legs were a tail, and her feet a fin. There were fish in the water that swam around her in mass, dividing and collecting as she passed through them.

As she suspected, she had infinite breath under the water, and didn't need to worry about air, but light was another issue entirely. The deeper she dove, the harder it got to see anything, considering the sun wasn't even up in the sky right now. Sakura felt nothing around her, not even fish, and the current was slack and dead about her body, so she stopped and drifted for a moment before cupping her hands together and imagining a glass ball full of the gel found in glow-sticks.

If she had been holding her breath, she would have lost it all in a moment the light hit the outer shell of the creature half buried in the sea floor sand. Sleeping and doormat, the crab sat among a bed of bones and sunken sea vessels, and even part way buried, he was huge. Sakura doubted even a football field would be able to hold him with the length of his sprawled out tails and folded up claws. He was massive.

Sakura turned down once more and swam for the bodies scattered around his back, spotting red fabric among the bones. It wasn't attached to a single body anymore, but Sakura could almost make out the spine and ribcage that it had once covered. She tugged on it and it came freely into her hand, proof of her visit.

Skimming the ocean floor, Sakura grabbed the remains of a sunken, single person boat and kicked off, shooting up for a good distance before having to swim and pump her legs like a tail for added momentum. She glanced back down at the crab, being able to see its head and almost stopped. Curled up on his forehead was a young man, sleeping peacefully. As the curls of waves hit him, the young male twitched, and it could have been a trick of the light in the waters, but she thought she saw it turn and look up at her, but then she was too close to the surface to care.

She broke with a gasp that was unnecessary, but Sai was there to gather her up all the same. Sakura coughed as the water dripped into her eyes and nose, holding up the fabric for him to see. 

"I took something."

"My observations were not false. Please hold on," he spoke in monotone, keeping her tight against his side as they cut the waters in the direction of shore.

The sun was already starting to rise, but there was a healthy layer of fog they could hide in all the way until the sand beaches. Sakura was still wet when Sai deposited her on the dunes, but by this point it was only really her clothing and her hair. When Sakura flopped down with the red fabric still in hand, Sai opened his mouth to say something before closing it again and turning on his heel. Sakura wanted to call out to him, to stop him from becoming smoke in the mist, but the sound of steps behind her made her hold her tongue.

Out of the mists stepped a pale figure with delicate hands grabbing a basket of herbs. Sakura looked up expecting to see a woman, but there was only Haku. Ah, that made sense. This was the village without women after all, and Haku wanted to be the substitute. She didn't doubt he was trying on some level to be more feminine.

"Sakura-san!" he breathed out in surprise seeing her in his path. He almost blushed and Sakura was a little jealous of how delicate and pretty he looked while she was still a damp mess. He took notice of her state quickly enough. "You've been…swimming?" Sakura stood first before shaking her head. 

"I wanted to check some things out. What can you tell me about this?" she asked, holding up the red fabric.

Haku set down his basket to take the fabric and hold it up. It was the top half of a very expensive Kimono layer, the kind women wore on their weddings. By the way the boy's eyes widened and then narrowed Sakura suspected he recognized it.

"Where did you get this?"

"It's what she wore when she was sacrificed, right? It belonged to one of the dead girls at the bottom of the ocean where the crab sleeps. I'm serious about what I said yesterday. I'm no half hearted woman." Haku looked up with much softer eyes, and in the early morning light Sakura saw they were the color of milk chocolate. 

"I didn't doubt you, but still this was reckless. What if you provoked the beast and died or was eaten early before the time for the sacrifice? You didn't even tell anyone where you were going."

Sakura thought about saying she wasn't alone, but decided to keep Sai, who always preferred to be apart from the actors, a secret. Instead she put on a mischievous smile and tilted her head to the side. 

"Ah, it almost sounds like you care about me. Very sweet of you, but I'm fine now, so there is no need to worry your pretty face over it."

Feeling brave and a little daring she reached out to pat his cheek affectionately before turning back to the dune where she had been sitting. A black pole stood out among the dunes, wrapped in fabric. Sakura grabbed it by the strap and slung it over her shoulder, ignoring how it clashed with her damp yukata. Turning back, she saw Haku was still where she left him with red on his cheeks. 

"Are there other errands you must complete this morning I can help you with, Haku-kun?"

"N-n-no, this is fine for what I need. P-please come back to the house with me, Zabuza would like to meet with you."

She chuckled darkly at how cute he looked all flustered and uncomfortable. With no women in the village, he probably wasn't used to getting a lot of attention from the opposite sex, especially when he dressed like one. It wouldn't last long, but Sakura wanted to see how much she could tease him before he got used to her. She wasn't normally so mischievous, but maybe the stress was getting to her. God knew that in the back of her mind she was yelling at herself about how bad an idea it was to lead a boy on, lest they end up like Kiba, but she didn't feel like listening to her better side at the moment. Sakura was not a good person.

The two walked back to the house, and Sakura smelled the smoke before she saw it, rising up over the roof from out back where Kisame worked day after day. His blades were of legendary grade, Haku told her when he caught her staring at the smoke. People paid a lot to have something made by him.

Sakura followed Haku in and took her shoes off at the door before following him inside. He was soft, even when crossing the room. Sakura's footfalls were always quiet, but she felt loud next to him. He moved like a geisha across the tatami mats before folding himself like a piece of paper under the low table. On its surface, a tray with tea waited. Sakura felt out of place, stepping in with her damp clothes and covered weapon. Still, she sat down at the open spot to Haku's left and folded her legs like a lady in a yukata should. She hated how it felt, and became eager for Zabuza to show up and give her a reason to move.

It was a while before the old man showed up. He ambled out with his charcoal gray hair a mess around his head and his navy and gray yukata half open to show off his chest. One of his hands rested inside the robe like a sling. He turned his bleary eyes onto her first, seizing her up through the fog of too much sleep, before turning to Haku.

"Why the hell are you up so early, kid?"

"The sun has already risen, Zabuza-san, and Kisame is in the forge. I told you we would meet with Sakura-san in the morning." Haku paused to eye his master over with a critical glint. "You are not appropriate for guests yet."

"Hell if I care," Zabuza growled, falling down on his butt before spreading his legs out and leaning on his one elbow to stare at Sakura some more. "So…you're the little demon slayer, eh? Killed anything big enough to eat you."

"To eat me? Yes, but even my monsters were never anywhere near the size of your beast. How does he not submerge the village when he rises?"

Zabuza looked bleary from sleep and Sakura had no doubt he was still tired, but he took a long time watching her before replying, and his reply was a very simple, if not blunt, 'what?' muttered in frustrated confusion. Sakura picked at the still damp fabric she was still dressed in. 

"I thought it would be a good idea to get an estimate on what it is I'm dealing with. It was…larger than expected."

To support her statements, Haku showed Zabuza the retrieved fabric and it didn't take as long for him to recognize it as what it was. His eyes were hard on Sakura, but not in a way that made her feel uncomfortable.

"You're either terribly brave or incredibly foolish."

"Funny how those two go hand in hand so often," she said with a shrug, not willing to be intimidated, "But I won't be caught off guard. I want to kill this thing and stay alive long enough to walk home." Sakura shifted a bit in her seat so she was sitting on her hip with her legs tucked under her, but not as tightly. "Isn't that why you wanted to speak with me?" Zabuza muttered gruffly to himself before sitting up straighter and clearing his throat. 

"You look too tiny to be taken seriously, but size isn't everything. Show me your sword."

Sakura reached behind her and grabbed the cloth cover, feeling the hard sheath through the fabric. Showing the sword reverence, Sakura presented it to Zabuza, and he woke up enough to accept it graciously with the hands of a master swordsman. Sakura could tell right away that his body was kin to the blade. He was one of the few who knew the insides of a sword better than the insides of a man.

Zabuza peeled back the cloth sheath and whistled low when he saw what her sheath was made out of. Pure whale scrimshaw, etched with the carvings of her battles. The handle and guard were also carved out of the polished whale bone. It was beautiful and expensive, but was it worth its weight in blood? Sakura held her breath as Zabuza grabbed the hilt, one finger curling at a time until his grip was tight as iron. He breathed deep and the room stilled. The blade was out, but Sakura had never seen him move it. There was a sound as the blade slid like a ghost out of its sheath and then through the air in an experimental swing.

He picked up the red kimono fabric and dropped the silk over the blade without moving it and Sakura watched as two swatches of red fell down on either side of her sword, cut perfectly without effort. Zabuza gruffly nodded before returning the sword to it's holder.

"A near perfect blade, but I've seen better, and it's far too ornamental while still being disgustingly vile. Snakes and wolves and scorpions…what ugly things for such a marvelous blade." He handed the sword back to her alongside the cloth. "Where did you get it?"

"That's a secret. Sorry, but I can't say anything more."

"Can you use it?" He was staring at her hands with the sort of look that told Sakura he already knew she was nowhere near as skilled as she needed to be.

"Not well," she admitted, "But well enough. I will improve." Haku had poured them both tea and Zabuza moved to take his. After a moment he set the cup down and leaned back on his elbows. 

"Then Haku will teach you, and you'll be staying here until the time of the sacrifice. If you try to go anywhere else or stay anywhere else, you'll regret it." He pushed off his elbows and leaned forward over the table. "How do you plan on killing this thing? If this is your only thought, I won't have my trusted apprentice die over a botched hero wannabe. Prove to me you're not, and I'll be your second ally, and with me more will come." Sakura recognized the finality in his voice and knew this conversation was at an end. She bowed her head low and kept her hands on her knees, eyes downcast. 

"Thank you very much. I will not disappoint you."

Zabuza nodded, turning to look at Haku. Without a word, Haku dipped his head in acknowledgment and stood, as graceful as a blossom caught in the wind. Sakura didn't doubt he was an excellent swordsman, but it made her a little envious inside how he could be both more skilled and prettier than her at the same time. It didn't seem fair.

With that burning kindled, Sakura held onto it and followed Haku outside into the yard, ignoring the large blue man who worked in the shadows. Towards the back was a low rack with bound bamboo practice swords, sat upright. Haku took two and tossed one to her. He didn't speak, but took a stance opposite hers. Sakura copied his footwork and gripped her sword the same way. She recognized the stance from the videos she watched earlier. This was familiar.

Haku was fast, and it was a challenge to keep up with him, but Sakura didn't get tired the way a normal dream human would get tired. She could block and parry his blows all day long if she didn't make an error. She strained to keep her footwork neat, but avoiding blades was more an issue and required more of her attention, and it was attention well devoted, because she caught it when he slipped up and left an opening. Being too tired to finish the swing in all it's steps, he skipped over one and left himself open for Sakura to take advantage of.

"Point." Zabuza called from the house. Sakura panted, glancing sideways to see Kisame watching from the forge.

Haku's breath was heavier than her's, but he was smiling and his eyes seemed lighter.

"Is that two out of three?" Sakura asked, not knowing what they were going to.

"Something like that," Haku said, tossing a stray band over his shoulder before gathering his hair up into a perfect bun in seconds. Sakura's insides burned with envy.

When they began again, it became obvious that Haku was going easy on her, testing her limits. She was good for a beginner, but Haku was playing with her because there was too big an ability gap and that made her hot inside. Her anger was a red stone in her gut and she burned her hands on it, holding it tighter and tighter. She lost the next two points, but after insisting for a third match, Sakura got her second point, though she didn't feel she deserved it. Haku was chuckling after she struck him, and it irritated her further.

He raised a hand and called for a rest, and Sakura took that moment to realize the sun was high overhead and the pair of them were damp with their own sweat, but only Haku was panting. At least she didn't give him those points without a struggle. 

"You're better than you let on," he breathed. She stayed standing, watching him sit in the shade on a stone where water waited for him. 

"But still inferior, I see," Sakura said, not indicating she wanted to move. Haku was staring at her, unable to take his eyes away from her form. They had been at it for hours, 'how was she not tired?' his eyes seemed to say.

"What's your weapon of choice then?" Zabuza asked, stepping out from the shade of a separate tree. He looked more awake now. "You're fine with a blade, but the Katana doesn't know your body well enough yet. You have the endurance of a fighter, so I don't think violence is new to you." Sakura tested the weight of her bamboo sword, mentally comparing it to her knives. It was much longer and heavier and had a reach she wasn't comfortable with. 

"Smaller blades," she finally confessed before looking up with a teasing smile, "And my own two fists."

"That makes you sound like an ally fighter," he said in a disappointed tone.

"Is that what you call it here? I'll tell you now, it wasn't wholly a choice when you grew up in the place where I came from. It was either learn or be taught for the rest of your life."

Zabuza shrugged out of the top half of his yukata, letting it fall around his waist where the belt was tied. His arms were free and unbridled by sleeves, and his chest was exposed to the glare of the sun, showing off how fit he really was. If Sakura had been doing anything, she was sure she would have faltered or messed up or frozen on the spot. Zabuza was not as old as she first assumed him to be, and he was ripped. Damn. He eased into a fighter's stance and Sakura blinked in surprise. 

"You want to do this now?"

"I want to see your best," he said, voice even and flat as ever. She was thankful he didn't notice her bug eyed staring.

" _ Fine _ ."

Sakura rolled her shoulders and lifted her heels off the ground, so she was just balancing on the balls of her feet. She could feel her body click, and it was like wearing your favorite pair of jeans that felt perfect all the way around, or a glove made especially for you. She didn't need the anger anymore. She didn't need to burn herself on the fire in her gut for this. He was a grown man, and physically stronger than her, but that didn't mean a thing to her here. She declawed the dream killer, she danced with death, she buried men in the earth.

Zabuza's first mistake was not coming at her with all he had. He underestimated her, and it was going to cost him. She pivoted, snaked, and pummeled like her arms were pistons into his side. He wasn't fast enough to keep up and when he was thrown back, and there was nothing but satisfaction in Sakura's smile. Zabuza looked at her, and it was as if he was seeing her for the first time. She wasn't a girl, she was a warrior. She was a killer. She was his equal.

He was better about avoiding her the second time around, but she started using her legs to catch him when he retreated, and almost kicked in his knees when he got too close. Zabuza was a swordsman, and a good one at that. With a weapon, he would have had her on her back in seconds, no doubt, but this was Sakura's game and she knew it. She arched her leg up high before bringing it down where he had just been with an echoing crack that split the air violently. Her heel left a crack in the earth and it was enough to shake Zabuza.

Her hands were fast, and when he tried to retreat again, she jumped past his defenses and drove him into the dust on his back. Straddling his midsection, Sakura leaned down on his neck, her thumbs tickling the bulge in his throat that was his Adam's apple. He almost reached her but she applied just a hint of pressure and his hands went down, knowing she had him.

"Still think I'm petty?" she almost purred in delight. She felt like she was glowing.

"I never said you were." His voice was gruff, lower and a bit more reserved in comparison to before. He tilted his chin down to get a better look at her face and frowned. "I yield."

Grinning widely, Sakura leaned back and pulled her knees up to ease up over him and stand off to his side before offering a hand to help him up. He took it graciously, already seeing her in a different light. When he was up he didn't let go of her hand right away, but narrowed his eyes, still looking at her.

"And it was knives, you said…the other skill set." Sakura nodded, dropping his hand. 

"Knives and fists. Small and easy to carry. No one sees you coming."

"And where did you say you grew up?"

"I didn't."

"Of course," Zabuza coughed, rubbing a hand over the discoloration growing over his ribs. He looked at his bruises and then glared at Sakura's lack of injuries before straightening up and pretending his pride wasn't hurt worse than his body. "I don't envy you for your upbringing. Haku will show you inside for lunch, afterwards the pair of you will work on stances until sundown. I expect you to stay here as well. Going outside will be dangerous, regardless of your capabilities."

"I can make myself harder to notice," Sakura said, not knowing how she felt about staying with the men when it was hard to tell where she would be when she woke up.

"Regardless, that's not a risk worth taking. I'm not negotiating." Sakura swallowed, recognizing the no nonsense tone to his voice. She bowed at the waist in acknowledgment. 

"As you say, then."

Haku was already up and stood an arm's reach away before she took notice of him. He smiled and turned back towards the house, intending for her to follow. She was slower, and took her time measuring her steps, noticing how Zabuza approached Kisame to talk in measured voices that didn't seem concerned about being overheard.

Sakura stepped inside and slid the screen door part way shut behind her, leaving it a crack open to hear the rest of their exchange.

"-Still a long way to go," Kisame said gruffly.

"But at least there's something to work with, like you said. I didn't let her win our fight."

"I know," Kisame then chuckled, "But you should have seen Haku's face when she pinned you down. He was watching her the whole time, but when she was on top of you, that boy would have given anything to switch places with you."

Sakura felt her cheeks burn and she turned to make sure Haku wasn't close by or listening as well. He was putting the tea set away and seemed occupied with that for the moment.

"I was worried about that kid for a while, but it seems there was no need," Zabuza said. "I'll have to keep an eye on his behavior while she's staying with us." Kisame chuckled low and Sakura almost didn't catch his next words. 

"And I'll keep an eye on you, Zabuza." The bruised male must have made a face because Kisame laughed again. 

"I saw more than just the boy's face when she pinned you down. I saw your's too. Make sure you don't get jealous of our cute youthful apprentice while she's here. You're too old a bachelor."

"I am not, and that's-"

Sakura stepped away from the door, sliding it all the way closed and cutting off the conversation before she heard too much or got caught listening. Haku was waiting for her and seemed pleasant enough to escort her throughout the small house on a tour, and show her the small closet sized room she would be using. He apologized for the size, but he didn't think it would be appropriate for an unmarried woman to share with an unmarried male.

Sakura didn't miss the pause that followed his words as he waited for him to correct his statement. She didn't because it was true, but it made her uncomfortable to hear it mentioned.

"Haku…san," she wasn't sure how to say his name in accordance with their current relationship, but 'san' seemed pretty safe to stay with. "Since you've already shown me the baths, can you tell me when you and the other men will be using it? I wouldn't want to have our times…overlap."

"You must want to use the baths, naturally. I will let Zabuza-san and Kisame-san know not to disturb you. Do you have any of your things with you?" Sakura shook her head, finding it too difficult to come up with a lie to explain all the things she could dream up. Haku never stopped smiling, but his smile almost looked sympathetic, if that was possible. 

"I have a few things you can use. They are more suited to you than I, and will be suitable for the rest of the day. Please take your time. When you are done I will have dinner ready, and then for strategy, a good round of the generals game. Is that acceptable?

Sakura racked her brain for the japanese word for the game he was talking about, remembering how it was sometimes also called Japanese chess. She didn't play, but she heard and read about it before. Ami had a board set in her house that was made out of expensive wood and other precious materials like ivory and bone. Realizing Haku was still waiting for an answer she shook her random thoughts aside. 

"Ah, yes, that sounds fine. I'm sorry to be a bother. I will bring my own things with me tomorrow morning from where I had been staying."

"That is fine. I have more than enough to share. Please let me know if you need anything else."

When Sakura convinced him she was fine, Haku left her to pick up the spare clothes he had been talking about, letting Sakura find the bathes on her own. Retracing her steps, Sakura walked the hallways. On her way, she passed a room with the door slid half way open. Zabuza was standing in front of a small altar, but he was looking at a blank spot on the wall with a faraway sheen to his charcoal gray eyes. His hands reached up to lightly stroke his neck around his Adam's apple. His eyes were still far away when Sakura eventually passed by.

Having Ami around the house took a lot more from Sakura. Her energy was constantly being zapped, but not in a bad way. She could tell it had been a while since Ami last had a serious friend, and even then Sakura doubted Ami had been very serious about the relationship.

Ami liked to talk a lot about her dreams and asked Sakura advice, it was clear that the younger girl looked up to Sakura and respected her greatly. It was a total 180 from what their relationship had been during their primary school and high school years. The irony that Sakura's two closest friends used to be two of her most hated enemies wasn't lost on her.

Ami liked taking care of others when it became possible. Before heading out to Orchard or it's secret basement club Root, Ami made Sakura turn around and head back upstairs to change and let her fix the makeup that hadn't been applied  _ enough _ . Sakura grumbled about being able to dress herself, but Ami pretended she didn't hear any of it when bringing in her oversized MAC makeup set. Sakura thought she looked okay how she was, but wasn't about to put up a fight when she knew it made Ami so happy to be useful.

"I invited the guys too, but I think only Jugo can make it. Suigetsu is working late with Karin and they'll meet us later."

"Oh, is that why you're putting so much effort into this?" Sakura asked, closing her eyes as Ami dusted her lids with a shade of maroon and indigo eyeshadow, before accenting it with a white shimmer to make her eyes really pop. When Sakura took a look, she couldn't help but admit it was nice, if not a bit too bold for her tastes. She would have never been able to pull it off, but Ami was an artist in her element.

"I always put my effort into looking perfect. The right kind of outfit or the perfect makeup can give you power. It's like magic!" She then pulled out a tube of lipstick called Bit of Berry that made her lips dark but not too dark that they weren't still inviting. "And yeah, I think Jugo likes bad girl Sakura. The good ones usually do."

"I'm not a… well, no, never mind. Forget I said anything." She liked to think she was a good person, but she couldn't ignore the fact that she kept herself dangerous for a reason.

Ami hurried and finished up the makeup and teased Sakura's hair a little before looking over her outfit. It was a mustard yellow long sleeve dress with a boatneck collar and little black buttons down the back.

"Change." Sakura's lips tugged down. 

"But I like it!" But Ami wasn't listening, instead she began digging through Sakura's closet and pulling out things she saw and liked. After a minute she walked away frustrated. 

"Here, little black dress will have to do."

Sakura tugged the mini cocktail dress out of her friend's hands and took it to the bathroom to change. She didn't like the lack of color, but she couldn't deny that it paired really well with her makeup and made her look like a James Bond girl. Before following Ami out, Sakura slipped on a rose gold locket that had belonged to her grandmother to bring a bit of character to the ensemble. Ami frowned at the add on, but Sakura made a face like she wasn't going to debate it and started leading down to the cars.

Ami drove her Mustang to the club, but Sakura took the keys before they could climb out, calling dibs on driving back. It didn't take much before Ami would be what you would consider 'impaired.' Sakura wasn't a big drinker anyway on nights when all she wanted to do was dance.

Inside at Root, it wasn't long before Ami found a boy she used to know through a friend of a friend from school and the two hit it off, talking at the counter and picking up drinks to take back to their booth on the second floor, because that was the sort of mood Ami was in. Sakura was about to text Jugo when she spotted him chatting up one of the bartenders on the far end of the hall.

Avoiding the dance floor, she made a beeline for where he stood. It was loud, so she had to touch his back to get his attention. He turned and lit up once he recognized her. 

"Hey, glad you finally made it."

"Sorry I lost Ami already. How were Karin and Suigetsu when you left?" Jugo grinned brightly, watching her step up to the counter beside him. 

"Fighting as always. They're fine. How was your day?"

Sakura chuckled, falling into the familiar rhetoric before it became too difficult to communicate over the loud noise. She told Jugo she was going to text Ami that they were heading upstairs to hang in the loft above the Orchard's dance floor.

There was an old pack of UNO cards left lying around that they decided to play with until realizing half the deck was missing. Sakura got a text from Karin that she and Suigetsu had finished and were on their way. After showing off the text, Sakura told Jugo she was going to go downstairs to buy herself some tea.

"Tea tonight, or something stronger?" She wasn't surprised to see Yamato behind the counter cleaning empty glasses. He grinned seeing her. 

"Mmm, a tea with some apple in it please, what do you have?"

"Well, it's not tea, but we do have some of the best apple cider around and it's a perfect drink if you want to stay warm without drifting off to sleep." He eyed her dress and heels. "You're going to Root?"

"How did you know?"

"They're making me put more and more hours downstairs. It's funny how you become able to predict the destination of our patrons based on the funniest things. You seem more like an Orchard girl, though," he said, sounding thoughtful towards the end.

"Oh, is that a type? How am I an Orchard girl, then?" Sakura gave him a look like she was pretending to be offended but it only made him snicker.

"Less obnoxious and less wasted. Let me guess, you'd rather play board games with a small group of friends than knock back shots in the dark." She rolled her eyes dramatically, not minding how he hadn't actually started making her drink or how she never actually ordered anything. 

"That's not very fair as you've never seen me order alcohol for myself so of course I would seem like an Orchard girl."

"I've seen you order drinks before, but you were here with a different friend and you were dancing downstairs." He looked down at the counter, as if he regretted saying as much. He swallowed and cleared his throat. "But that's not what you want right now. So, was that a yes to the cider?"

"A yes,  _ please _ ," Sakura answered, straining the please as if she wanted him to notice her being polite. It was New York, after all. Being polite was an endangered activity.

Yamato chuckled and set off to prepare her drink. She watched him over the counter with her hand bent under her chin. It didn't take long before he came back with her drink and she handed him her card, but he wouldn't take it.

"You're a designated driver again, aren't you? Non alcoholic drinks are on the house." Sakura grinned out of the corner of her mouth, trying to hide it. 

"Thanks. Then I'll see you around, Yamato."

Before she could even make it back to the loft, she caught Jugo staring down at her, except it wasn't her he was staring at anymore. His eyes were dead looking and partly glazed over as he watched Yamato watch her walk all the way back. Sakura felt fear blossom in her chest, and choked it down, telling herself there was nothing to fear here in this place in this reality. She was awake and the horrors were only waiting for her when she fell asleep. Still, the feeling didn't abate until much later when she had nearly forgotten about her cider drink.

Sakura was so much better at the sword than she was when she first started out. Days and weeks had passed, and with every lesson and every stroke, more and more of the mysteries of kenjutsu became known to her. The art of the sword, or kenjutsu was a lot of hard work that usually boiled down to Sakura repeating the same stroke a hundred times over her head. It reminded her of that story of a master pianist sitting down to practice and running through nothing but scales for all his practice time. Everything came down to simple concepts with kenjutsu, but her body had to learn it before her mind. She needed to be faster than any other body, and move before she thought.

It wasn't long before she started training with Zabuza. Part of it was due to her stamina being unmatched, but another part of it was due to the fact that she was stronger and faster now. She was actually beating Haku when they sparred, and he had long since abandoned going easy on her. Now she forced him to try his best with her, and even then sometimes it wasn't enough.

There was one day where she had schooled Haku particularly fast and moved on to Zabuza, giving the younger boy time to recover in the shade, but then with Zabuza, she fought and fought and eventually he tired, but she didn't. She could just keep going and he saw that in her eyes before stepping back and holding up a hand.

"That is where I must leave you. Take a short break and then run through your stances." Zabuza rubbed his ribs, looking to Haku. "We can have dinner early."

"Are you hurt?" Sakura asked, sounding concerned. Zabuza did look paler than normal, and there was darkness hanging from his eyes. Instead of answering her, he pulled up the cloth that hung around his neck and covered his mouth with it before heading towards the house.

Sakura sighed, readjusting herself for the stances when she noticed Kisame move out from underneath the forge's coverings. He squinted at the light, but wiped his hands on the front of his clothes and walked over to where the practice swords were being kept. Sakura watched, frozen in place, as he picked one up and weighed it in his hand. From the sidelines, Haku gulped nervously. 

"Kisame-san?"

"Have you ever gotten tired once, Sakura?" the blue man asked, looming where he stood. It was impossible for him not to. He was always impressive, all the time. He couldn't not loom with all the bulk of his body.

Numbly, she shook her head, not trusting her mouth to work when she knew what would come next. Kisame grinned, and his grin was wild and dangerous. His mouth was full of teeth sharpened to a point. 

"After today you'll never be able to say that again. Get into position."

Silently, Sakura obeyed, standing opposite him with her practice sword raised. His eyes were dark black like the eyes of a shark, and Sakura couldn't help but picture him as a hulking great white on land, ready to sniff out her blood and follow it back to her body for devouring. There was an energy or aura that made her feel small, like prey. He was over her in every way imaginable.

It was only thanks to her training that her body reacted at all to block his first move. He came at her with a wild cry and her mind didn't compute fast enough to keep up with him, but her hands knew what to do. Her arms knew what to do, her feet knew how to move, and her knees knew how to bend.

Kisame was relentless. Haku could be relentless, and Zabuza could be relentless in how they continued to bear down on her with attack after attack, but neither of them were like Kisame. He kept coming at her and there wasn't even the slightest sign that he was going to run out of energy anytime soon.

He was laughing, and it chilled Sakura. He just came at her like a force of nature. Again and again she tried to scream at her blocks, to put more power into them, but nothing could match his power. She tried to counter, tried to twist and turn away before slicing at him again, but he wouldn't let her take the chance. Just like there was no end to Sakura's stamina, there seemed to be no stopping the big blue monster with teeth like a killer's.

She lost track of time, but she was worn and her body was a mess with nerves and fright as she continued to block and guard and evade. Off to the side she noticed Zabuza had come back outside to watch them, and he stood transfixed beside Haku. It was so small an oversight, but it was all Kisame needed to break her guard and get his sword into her gut. Haku would have tapped her, Zabuza might have hit her, but Kisame threw her. Sakura felt like she was thrown back by the force of a car hitting her dead on when she sailed through the air and landed closer to the house.

Haku cried out in alarm and ran to her side. Zabuza was frowning at Kisame who looked high or something with a wicked smile still in place and a faint breath caught on his lips. So he did wear out…

Sakura grabbed her head, sitting up with a little help from Haku. It was late in the evening. Sun would be setting soon. 

"Wow, now I think my bruises have bruises. Thank you."

"I'm surprised you lasted so long. Your lungs may have stamina, but you need to rely less on your mind and more on your spirit when you wield a medium as fine as a katana," Said Haku. Kisame grinned before adding. 

"But other than that, yeah you kinda sucked." Sakura frowned. 

"That was my first shot at you, shark face. I'll get better for next time." Kisama blinked, resting his practice sword over his shoulder and looking lost. 

"Shark face, is that me?"

"Who else would I be talking to? Yes you. I might have sucked, but I'll work on it. You're just really big and impressive so far."

"And you don't think the three tailed crab won't be?" He took a handful of steps towards her until his shadow stretched out over her. "You don't get a second shot at this thing. You don't get to work on it once the time comes. Don't use excuses on me, they won't get you anywhere."

She knew she shouldn't say anything back. He wasn't really asking a question. He was trying to humble her, because there was more for him to lose than her. If she failed, his village would suffer for generations to come, but did any of that matter if this was all a dream?

Sakura bit her lip and bowed her head. She didn't move, she didn't look up, and she didn't talk back. Eventually the shadow fell away and she heard his footsteps leading back to the forge where his swords were waiting. Something in her eyes stung, and when she eventually lifted her head, the stray tear fell down her face and caught on her chin. She wiped it quickly, thanking her stars that she didn't sound like she had been crying or feel like she had been crying when she swallowed.

"I will continue to practice on my own then," she said in an even tone before taking her sword to the far corner of the yard and practicing her swings.

When Haku eventually came back out to call her in for dinner, she shook her head, refusing him. When he came out after dinner with a plate of leftover rice rolls, Sakura just kept swinging. She didn't stop to take them, but Haku remained outside, watching her. Even as it grew dark, Sakura kept swinging. She would keep swinging until her dream ended, and then swing some more once she fell asleep again.

When the tingling started up in the back of her neck, she eased out of her swings, taking stock of her surroundings before it was time to go. Haku was still outside with her, his plate of rice balls cold and stale on the ground beside him. He looked asleep, and when Sakura kneeled down in front of him, he didn't stir. She touched his skin and felt how cold he was growing.

"Stupid boy," she sighed, pulling out a men's haori to wrap around his shoulders. The kimono jacket was black with a pattern of white birds across the back, and she was sure it was something he would have liked.

When she looked up, Zabuza was watching from the doorway.

"Will you help him into his room?" she asked, knowing she couldn't be expected to lift Haku and carry him inside, even though she probably could with some effort.

"You could just wake him." She shook her head, letting sweaty strands of pink slap her in the face. 

"It would be a waste. He should sleep." Zabuza considered her for a moment more before saying anything. 

"You're not thinking of giving up?" 

"Of course not." Sakura followed through on another swing. 

"Kisame didn't scare you off, or do you think you can beat him?"

Sakura almost paused, but followed through with the swing perfectly as her mind went back to the fight. Kisame had been a monster. Something was different about him that separated him from all the other men she fought before. It was as if he was cloaked in an energy that gave him power and strength. It was unearthly.

"If I can learn to wield that sort of energy like Kisame, then I know I can." Her sword came down stronger than before. Zabuza looked on, curious. 

"Energy?" The dream was almost over, but Sakura knew she had enough time for a few more words. 

"Yeah, he was different. I could almost see it around him in a cloud of blue when he moved. He was just so powerful and I need to learn to be like that too, one day soon."

The next time Sakura dreamed, she awoke in her room before dawn to find Sai sitting in the corner drinking tea. He looked up when she shifted on her futon and met her sleepy morning gaze.

"Oh no, what did I do now?" she groaned into the fabric.

"Nothing wrong, but you were able to pick up on something that will help progress the narrative. I wanted to be here first to give you some insight that might be helpful."

She wracked her brain, but couldn't come up with anything useful. What was Sai talking about? She rolled off her futon onto the floor and kept rolling till she was on her back looking up at Sai who seemed as emotionless as ever. 

"What did you want to tell me?"

"You mentioned being able to see a blue energy around Kisame during your spar."

"I didn't think it was a big deal."

"That was Kisame altering the dream, but in this kingdom that is called using one's chakra. In other kingdoms it has been called magic or sorcery, but it is a manipulation of the constructed world inside this dream. Mere members should not be able to see or use chakra, but Kisame is an actor. He will want to know how you were able to see his chakra and know if you have any of your own."

"Why?"

Instead of answering, Sai reached out and touched her forehead, forcing images into her mind. It was intrusive, and Sakura resisted at first, but then the images began to make sense, and the audio that rang out inside her brain matched the moving lips and soon everything came together.

It was a much older time, a more primitive time, where people wore skins and killed all the time out of fear. Men and women who glowed with chakra energy were clubbed down by their brothers and family members. Whole villages turned on people who could manipulate the waters, breath fire, and make things turn up out of nowhere. It was a rare gift, one no one understood. What people do not understand they fear, and when they were young, people killed what they feared.

A woman closed up a wound on her knee and turned to face her lover, only to see the horror grow in his eyes. Before she could reach for him and sooth his worries with kisses, he turned on her, a stone as big as his fist raised high. Sakura watched as the girl screamed his name, even after he crashed that stone against her skull. He was crying too, about his unkind fate, as he bludgeoned the beautiful girl to death.

When Sakura came out of it, she was suddenly very grateful no one had ever seen her pull anything out of thin air before. If Zabuza had seen her make that haori for Haku… The room spun a little as she grabbed her head in anxiety. 

"Wait! Kisame can use chakra, so they won't kill me for it. Even if they don't suspect, they wouldn't kill me for it….right?"

"People do not kill chakra users anymore in this time period, although some villages will be more biased about it, you don't have any reason to believe you will be stoned to death for such indiscretions."

"Then, do they know?"

Sai didn't answer, but instead raised his teacup to his lips and took a sip. He kept his eyes closed as the warm water coated his throat. Frustrated, Sakura stood and paced back to her futon before untying her sleeping yukata. Letting it fall off her shoulders she dreamed up a new day one before the old could show off anything indecent. They weren't the easiest to move around in, but it was what everyone else was wearing, so she learned to adjust to the difficulties. Sakura pulled her hair into a high ponytail and then curled it into a bun she tied down with clips and pins.

The sun was nearly up, so she decided to head out and start training on her own. She was a mouse throughout the house, sneaking out the back without making a sound. No one else seemed to be up, so she approached the rack of bamboo practice swords.

Her hand stilled right above the hilt of one before drawing back. She remembered in her vision one of the users healed a cut on her knee, and another made boulders explode with just his fist. She didn't know how that was possible, but she wanted to know if it was possible for her to do any of those things with her own abilities. She could alter her appearance or make things out of thin air all the time, but she never thought much about the how or why of her conjuring ways. If she could do one easy enough, what was stopping her from doing the other?

Sakura dreamed up a small knife and cut the tip of her finger. It could be a paper cup for how small it was, but blood poured out from the slice like perfect ruby beads. She concentrated on the cut, and pretended it wasn't there. She visualized it leaving, of sealing up and knitting itself back together. She concentrated so hard but nothing happened.

Giving up, she stuck her finger into her mouth and sucked the excess blood away. She would practice channeling enough power into her hands to break something, but until she could manage to sneak away, she would have to wait.

"You seem highly dedicated to be up and practicing so early." Sakura turned to see Zabuza standing in the doorway. "You didn't even wait for Haku to make you breakfast."

"I…didn't think anyone would be up this early. What are you doing outside, Zabuza-san?" she asked, hiding her finger in her fist and pretending to sound like she couldn't care less what he wanted with her. Zabuza didn't talk a lot, and spoke to her even less. If he was speaking, there was something he wanted to know.

"I heard you practicing."

"I will try to be quieter." She should have started her swings again, but Zabuza didn't move and she felt trapped under his gaze, like it was a physical force. It was still dark out, but light was breaking over the Eastern lands. "Is…that all…Zabuza-san?"

"You're nervous."

This time she didn't bother to beat around the bush or pretend she wasn't as agitated as she really was. She lowered her practice sword and turned to face him, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin. She wouldn't be intimidated even if she was outmatched or overpowered. She schooled her features into an emotionless mask that would not betray the dying bird that was her heart. For all he would be able to see, she was not moved by his presence.

" _ You know. _ " Zabuza narrowed his eyes and stood up straighter himself. 

His words crackled with electricity and she felt the fog roll in, faster than before.

"Know what?"

The fog was a blanket around them, piling up like cumulus clouds on every side until they were ghosts, lost to the world. There was energy in the clouds too, the same way there had been energy around Kisame when they last fought. This was what Sai had shown her.  _ This was chakra _ .

Zabuza snapped, and that's when Sakura realized she had spoken out loud instead of in her mind like she originally intended to. He was fast, and Sakura was off guard, but somehow she managed to bring up her practice sword to block his fist. Still, the impact pushed her back in the dirt a distance, separating, and when she looked up again he had a short black, blade oddly shaped in his hand. A pouch on his leg was left open and she saw the curved ends of other similar knives.

"Kuni," he said before tossing one at her. Sakura yelped and ducked, spinning out of the way and into the mist. When she righted herself, Zabuza was gone.

"Crap," she said out loud. There was something different about Zabuza now, and it wasn't just the chakra he was using. He had a killer's aura and a murder's eyes. He wasn't playing around anymore. "The hell Zabuza! What are you doing?"

The mist was silent all around her, and Sakura bit her lip, doubting the wisdom of shouting. What if she woke up Haku and Kisame and the two of them decided to try and kill her as well. It made as much sense as what Zabuza was doing. Hell, hadn't he been helping her yesterday? Why was he trying to kill her?

Sakura's eyes widened as the hairs on the back of her arms stood up on end, and a shiver bit down her spine. She turned and leapt out of the way just in time to avoid decapitation. A monster blade cut through the mist like clouds before settling on the back of her opponent. Zabuza's face was covered in those bandages again, and his posture was taunt like a drawn bowstring.

"What is that thing?" she breathed, taking in the sight of the oversized butcher's blade that was taller than he was and nearly as wide. She was shocked he was even able to hold it up.

"My apologies, Sakura-san. This isn't personal and I truly did like you, but no one can know what we are in this village."

"Know what? What the hell is going on, and why are you trying to kill me now?"

He didn't respond, but stepped back into the mist, melting into it like an appertain without substance. He was silent too. She had hoped to hear his steps and track him that way, but he somehow had mastered the art of ghost walking, and with that huge sword on his back, it was doubly impressive.

She wanted to call on Sai and have him help her, but she didn't. No, Zabuza was different from the others, he wasn't really her enemy. He was an actor, and that made him a planet in her solar system. He existed for her, the dreamer. It was insulting to think he was trying to kill her now.

In her anger, Sakura reached out and manifested her scrimshaw blade out of thin air. Folding it against her side, she fell into a stance and readied herself to draw the blade. She closed her eyes to the white world around her and inhaled deeply, tasting the sea and salt in her lungs now.

She felt his energy and drew her sword in a flurry, sending a shockwave through the mist strong enough to push it back and expose where he had been hiding. A colored glow flickered out from the hand that held her blade, and she flinched. There was a lot of this energy inside of her now that she was aware of it. She could see it coiled up in the depths of her and formed her entire dream body. Glancing around, she saw the dreamworld was made up of meeker energies she could reach out and manipulate.

Her eyes throbbed with the raw power that lay trapped within her. Zabuza met her gaze and not a second later he made his advance, leaping out across the grounds to swing at her and she met him head on. His butcher blade went for her and she stopped it with her own, pouring her energy into it to reinforce its structure. Her blade was significantly smaller and thinner. It should have bent or broken under the impact of his strike, but it didn't.

They grappled for a bit before breaking apart and Sakura thought Zazbua would charge her again, but a hulking shadow grew across the ground between them before something mammoth crashed down, scattering dust and fog alike. Sakura held up a hand to her face to keep the dust out, coughing from the impact. Rising up from the small crater, Kisame straightened his body and then heaved his own mammoth blade over his shoulder, only his was covered in wrappings and hidden from view.

"Kisame!" Sakura exclaimed, but his back was to her and his attention was elsewhere. Zabuza flinched, but didn't back down.

"Mind telling me what the fuck is going on here?" the blue man growled, looking ready to shred his comrade to pieces. Zabuza didn't sound scared when he answered back.

"You were careless and let yourself be known. Your thoughtlessness led me to this. She knows about the chakra."

"Obviously. How the hell else do you think she was able to keep fighting with that monster stamina of hers? There was a constant, nearly undetectable thread of it feeding into her body. You just weren't able to see it because you've never encountered someone with such a level of control." Kisame took a step back so that he could glance over his shoulder and see her. "Even now that sword of hers is embedded with her own special chakra."

"Obviously," Zabuza snapped, sounding near irate. "Otherwise my danto would have sliced her clean through." Kisame growled and heaved his sword up, swinging it around to point it at the other swordsman. 

"Then why the hell were you attacking her?!"

"Kisame, you're an idiot. It doesn't matter who or what she is if she knew about you. Have you forgotten what you have given up for this life? The wrong word out of her mouth and you're back to the old ways, and I'm not about to go down the hell path with you." Kisame turned back on his heel to regard Sakura more fully. She tensed at the stern expression on his face. 

"Oi, girlie, were you planning on letting it slip we're chakra users just like you?" The images from Sai's vision flashed through her mind. Sakura felt her lip curl. 

"What the hell would make you think I'd do that? What the actual fuck made you think I would ever do that?" she asked in a roar, feeling her heart thunder in her chest as anger roared in her ears. Her blood was agitated by the insult. "I thought you guys were my friends. I would have… I…"

Her throat closed up a bit and she felt the stinging in her eyes. She lowered her sword to be able to wipe her face with the back of her arm. Into the fabric of her garment, the boys heard her utter ' _ fuck _ ' once or twice, making them blush. She swallowed the stone in her throat and fixed her eyes into a glare again. Her voice was strong again when she decided to speak.

"I would never betray my friends."

She didn't wait for them to say anything, but turned on her heel and ran back into the house. She passed Haku in the hallway, but didn't stop to say hello or meet him with a greeting before beelining it to her bedroom and slamming the door behind her.

Her throat tasted like salt from the tears she choked back, and when she turned around, looking for Sai, he wasn't there. It was probably better that way. She didn't want him to see her crying over something so stupid. Maybe she was just scared after being almost killed. She was in shock, she was crying because of the shock, it wasn't like she actually… thought she was a part of their family or anything like that.

But even if she had, it wasn't that unreasonable a thing to believe! Zabuza had been incredibly kind to her since her stay with them. He taught her for many days and ate dinner with her nearly every night. If Haku was the one training her, he would bring out her lunch and make Haku go inside for his own spring rolls or bento while he waited outside with a knowing smirk and a mischievous glint in his eyes. When Haku would eventually come back out with a lunch to eat with them, they were almost always gone, hiding on purpose to make the poor boy panic.

Zabuza was silent and gruff at times, but Sakura felt so proud of herself when she caught him smiling at her or playing jokes with her. It was like he let her in on a great secret when he showed emotions in front of her that he didn't share with anyone else. His words echoed in her mind. 

" _ My apologies, Sakura san. This isn't personal and I truly did like you, but no one can know what we are in this village. _ " He thought she would be a traitor to them, even with her situation being what it was. He thought she would…do that to them.

When a soft knock broke her from her musings, she noticed the sun had reached near its peak in the sky. She had been in her room for hours?

"Sakura-san, are you decent?" Zabuza's muffled voice drifted through the wood. "I'm asking you for entrance, please."

"It's your house, do as you like," she answered back, not caring if her voice sounded cruel.

The wooden frame grazed the surface of the floor as Zabuza pushed the door back and entered. He shut the door behind him and approached Sakura, who stood in the center of the room before bowing as low as possible. When Sakura turned, she found him on his knees with his forehead pressed to the floor.

"Zabuza-san?"

"I humble beg for your forgiveness. I have made a grave error and betrayed your good faith in me as well as my own heart. I ignored my intuition in favor of foolishly eliminating the potential for discord. I should not have acted in such a way. I have examined myself, and find my action unjust and unworthy of forgiveness."

She felt uncomfortable all of a sudden and dropped to her knees, kneeling in front of him. She slipped her hand under his jaw and lifted his face up so he could see her. 

"Don't do that." She let go of his face and fell back onto her butt, letting her shoulders sag. "Don't look at me like that…so formally."

"I can not apologize enough for what I have done. I will regret them forever."

"Were you really going to kill me?" He flinched and Sakura felt her heart twitch again. "Why? Would people really try to kill you if they knew? I thought people got better about this stuff with time."

"Our situation is different. Kisame is especially strong, and in my youth I… killed many men for my country. There was once a man stronger than the others who hunted down people like us for his village. He… this organization poses a threat to our lives, and I was willing to sacrifice you to protect that."

"Would working for such a guy be bad?" she asked, not knowing what was so wrong about wanting to kill the tailed beasts. Wasn't that what they were training her for? A dark look came over Zabuza. 

"I…do not want to be the bloody puppet for anyone ever again. The same is said for Kisame."

Sakura tried to imagine it with her mind's eye. Being controlled by anyone sounded like a nightmare. 

"And Haku?"

"They would have taken him as well. He is young and can not do much, but he has great potential if he ever wishes to tap into it." He paused before saying anything more. "I swore to protect him." Sakura nodded, feeling numb still, but…fuller. 

"I understand then, but Zabuza-san, I would have never said anything to anyone, especially if you had explained to me in the first place. I… I know I'm not Haku and I haven't known you as long as Kisame, but I… I felt like this was a place for me and I… I really liked it here and I thought you liked me being here as well. I'm here to train, but I thought of you guys as my friends, as treasured people. I still do. It hurts, but I want to forgive you."

"I don't deserve it."

"I think that's why they call it grace." She shook her head. "We all do things we regret when we're scared, and in a way, I can understand your actions. It was because you cared about your family and wanted to protect them. In that respect, I can't accept your apology because what you did wasn't wrong."

"It was wrong because it was you." Sakura looked up and saw that Zabuza wasn't looking away any more. His stare was confident and unflinching. "I will always protect my family and never apologize for that, but you were a part of my family. It was wrong because it was you." Sakura felt the tips of her ears turn red and her face burned a little hot. She looked up again when she heard him chuckle. If possible, she felt her face burn brighter. 

"What?"

"No, it's cute." Sakura thought she was going to overheat. She reached up and covered her face with her hands, looking down and heard Zabuza laugh louder. 

"Don't call me that!" she muttered through her fingers. " _ Stooooooop _ ." She wanted to sink into the earth or burrow under bed covers for the way he made her feel like a child. There was a banging on the door just then and it slid open to reveal an extremely annoyed Haku. His chocolate colored eyes were narrowed into deadly slits when they landed on Zabuza. 

"What are you doing to Sakura-san?" Not one to be intimidated by a child, Zabuza just chuckled darkly and shook his head. 

"And here it comes. The protective wrath you've earned for yourself, Sakura." Zabuza eased out of his crouch and climbed to his feet, dusting his knees as he straightened up. "In light of all of this, I think it would be a fine idea to take that trip we've been talking about." Sakura looked up from behind her hands, forgetting her embarrassment. 

"What trip?" Haku looked equally confused from beside her.

"I told you that when I was ready to fight alongside you, that others would join. We are going to retrieve them as well as develop that raw technique you've been working with. You need a finer teacher for chakra manipulation than I can be." Haku looked back and forth between the two, his eyes widening and then narrowing. 

"What, Sakura san can use chakra? When did this happen?" She shrugged, not minding that the young boy took advantage of the opportunity to sit down beside her, scooting closer than she would normally allow. 

"It helps bolster my stamina, but I can't do very much more than that and I don't even notice it when I use it. I've never been formally trained."

"I can teach you the basics!" Sakura jumped when she felt Haku's hands on her own. He pulled her palms closer to himself and she didn't resist. "And then Kisame can teach you the advanced stuff. He's pretty good about it too, even if he is a harsh teacher." Zabuza moved towards the door and stopped before leaving. 

"You two can take the rest of the day off. We'll set out first thing in the morning before the sun comes up, so make sure you get to bed early."

When the door slid back shut, Sakura looked down to see that Haku was still holding her hands. When Haku caught her looking, he made a sound in his throat like a squeak and let go extremely fast, bobbing his head and apologizing. Sakura chuckled lightly and shook her head, thinking his actions were fine. She reached up to undo the ponytail she had gathered her hair into when Haku cleared his throat.

"So, you're like me. You can use chakra." Sakura closed her eyes and focused on pulling all the strands of her hair up into one fist so she could re-tie her hair. 

"Yeah, that's what it sounds like, but this is sort of the first time I'm really hearing it called chakra. I always just thought of it as  _ energy _ ."

Haku got up on his knees behind her and took her hair out of her hands, pulling it back and brushing it with his fingers in ways she couldn't. She let her hands fall to the sides, knowing he could do a better job…and it felt good. When he spoke again his voice was low and close to her ear, so that she could feel his breath on the shell of her earlobe. 

"Thank you for the haori."

"It was nothing," she answered back, trying not to let his voice send shivers down her spine.

"I'll treasure it. Ah, there you go. All done. You're very pretty." Haku leaned back down onto his heels and Sakura turned around partway to watch him as she felt the ponytail with her own two hands, smiling at how smooth it felt under her fingers. Haku watched her, his smile easing off his face. "Sakura-san, will you come with me for today? There is a place I wish to show you."

Sakura nodded without thinking about it. It was a free day. Sai probably wouldn't show up again, and there was nothing else for her to do. He packed a lunch for both of them and she followed Haku out of the house onto the streets, and out of the village into the lands surrounding it.

Eventually Haku led her off the beaten path into the spaces in between trees, going deeper and deeper into the uncharted lands. She followed without saying a word, even though Haku was always opening his mouth to say something like, 'watch your step,' or 'be careful there.' After a while they eventually reached a long lake fed by a natural spring.

"What are we doing here?" Sakura asked, only a little impressed by the view.

Haku set their stuff down and pulled a scroll out of his bag. Unrolling it, Sakura saw seals and passages she couldn't understand, but before she had a chance to better inspect the writings, Haku dragged his bleeding thumb over one of the areas and there was a poof as smoke spilled out of the scroll. Sakura blinked, looking away to keep the smoke out of her eyes. When she glanced back there was a pair of skates sitting atop the scroll. She didn't know what to comment on first, the need for skates or the appearance of the skates.

"Um…Haku…"

"Wait, wait, I haven't gotten to the best part. This is my family bloodline limit and my speciality." Haku sounded excited as he reached his hands into the water and Sakura felt a spike in her heart as the air around them dropped and energy grew from Haku's hands. There was an angry cracking and then a grand sweeping sound as the lake was turned to ice, perfect for skating on.

"Oh my," Sakura breathed, reaching out to touch the ice. It was solid under her hand. Would she be able to do something like that with her own chakra? "What do you mean when you say it was your bloodline limit?"

"Chakra is the manipulation of the world around us, but not everyone with chakra can do everything. Some need special bloodlines to alter specific elements…some of the strongest forces in existence. Not to brag, but my Ice release jutsu is a huge deal."

"I can see that," Sakura murmured, running her fingers over the ice again. "It's amazing."

Haku went back over to the skates and pulled his pair on before helping Sakura's with hers. He insisted he aid her, even though she felt a bit queasy about the way his hands lingered on the skin above her ankle. She swore she could feel his fingerprints, his touch was that light. When he looked up over her knee, his face was a bit flushed but he smiled before offering her his hand and leading her out onto the ice.

Sakura knew how to skate, she grew up in a place cold enough to be fond of it, but she wasn't confident on the uneven ice in the way Haku was confident. She wobbled and tripped a few times, and nearly fell more than once, only to be caught by Haku who came skating over to her rescue. At one point she was beyond saving, and ended up taking him down with her. They laughed about it over lunch when they ate on the shore above the lake.

Haku told her about his family, about how they were killed for their abilities and how Zabuza took him in at a young age and cared for him, and how they came across Kisame who had to hide away from the world because of his skin and deeds. Kisame was a powerhouse, and there were people in the world looking for powerhouses to manipulate and control. Sakura, in return, told her a bit about her life, her real life with her real mom and her real troubles.

It was the afternoon and neither decided they wanted to go back on the ice. Both were tired and content to lounge out on the grass next to each other. Haku was staring at her when he spoke up. 

"Sakura, do you mind if I ask you something personal?"

Sakura shrugged, rolling over onto her back and draping her arm over her forehead. She heard Haku gulp before progressing. 

"You're older than I… and well past the marriage age for women in most villages. By now you should have taken a lover, so why are you alone?" When she didn't answer he quickly tripped over his words to come up with an explanation to his question. "Even if our village is a special case, there are not many wandering women your age without men. It's just…rare."

Sakura let her arm drift down and rest over her eyes, making the world around her dark so that her memories were that much more clear as they replayed in her mind.

" _ Sakura….kiss me _ ."

She sucked in a breath sharply and rolled over onto her side, away from Haku. From behind her she could hear him apologizing profusely, trying to get out of the question.

"I've never been married, and I've never been engaged," Sakura finally answered, speaking slowly. "And I've never accepted any man's… courtship except for one's… but I don't think it actually counts, since he died in my arms before I could give him a proper reply. He loved me and made it known, but I never returned his feelings until the end when he left this world." She rolled back over to look Haku in the eye and he saw a coldness there not unlike the ice they danced over earlier. "The last thing he asked of me was a kiss, and he died under my lips. I haven't been open to another man since. What does that make me?"

Haku looked a little sick, like he regretted what he asked. Hesitantly, he reached out to touch her hand, in a gesture that should have been comforting, but Sakura rolled away, closing her eyes and sitting up.

"It's late, we should head back."

Sakura stood in the apple orchard by herself, her dress flapping about her knees as she stood on the crest of a dwarf hill where several surviving trees still bore fruit. It was nearly the end of the season, and the apples left were the reddest and ripest of all the apples to have come before. She cupped one in the palm of her hand, feeling it's shape, before twisting it off the tree and bringing it close to her chest. It was so red. So terribly bright and red.

' _ "Oh god," Sakura sobbed, trying to put pressure on the wound and will it shut. She imagined it sealing up, of fusing back together, of mixing and cross weaving skin on skin, of blood rolling backwards into his sacred body, but none of that happened. The knife at her side, the one that dug into her hip bone, was gone as well _ .

She bit into the apple, breaking skin and carving out a place for her teeth in the fruit. Sweet juices ran down her lips and off her chin as she chewed and swallowed. Running a thumb under her chin she collected the juices and guided them back to her mouth to suck clean. It was nature's purest sugar, sinfully sweet and utterly tantalizing. The last apples of the season were always the best. Nothing could rival their taste.

_ "Sakura." _

_ She fell silent and became terribly attentive to his face as he tried to find her with his eyes. She knew the moment he did because the corner of his lips turned up. "Kiss me." _

She bit into the apple again and pretended she wasn't crying.


	5. KOB 2

**Kingdom of Beasts**

**Part 2**

* * *

The Land of Tea was a village close to the Village Hidden in the Mist, but not close enough that it had reason to fear for its ladies. It was a resort styled village with plenty of inns and spas and pretty places where one could observe flowers in the spring. It took almost an entire day of travel in the back of the merchant's cart, but it felt even longer since Haku wasn't beside Sakura to distract her with silly words or nonsense sentences. Haku still watched her, but it was like there was a wall there now and she had a pretty good idea of where that wall came from. Maybe she had been too morbid when talking about Sasori's death.

Geisha walked down the street at twilight, the first few paper lanterns coming on to cast a haunting glow on their otherworldly beauty. One caught Sakura staring and winked. Behind her, she heard Kisame sigh in agitation.

"Really?" the blue man grumbled from underneath his wide straw hat. "Even the chick gets more action than me."

"I apologize, Kisame-san. I'm sure you would be plenty popular with the ladies if you could get them to talk to you. Your personality is what I like best about you."

He laughed from underneath his straw hat, but didn't say anything more. Behind him, Haku and Zabuza shifted nervously.

They eventually disembarked in front of an inn a distance away from the red light district, where the geisha ladies swayed on the street. When they reached the front counter, there weren't any words or money exchanged. The old woman at the front desk nodded to them and handed Zabuza a card with his key dangling from it as he passed.

They walked a little bit before stopping in the hallway. Sakura heard loud laughter and cheering as men on the other side of the door to the main room played gambling games with dice and sticks. 

"I'll wait here," Kisame grumbled, nodding to the main hall. Zabuza looked to Sakura, addressing her. 

"You should stay with Kisame until I find our friend, then I'll introduce you."

Haku glanced between Sakura and Zabuza before taking a step closer to his master, still watching her, only with his head slightly bowed. Kisame took notice of this, but didn't say anything until the two walked off. He leaned down and rested an arm on her shoulder.

"I thought lady pants over there would beg to stay with you. He also wasn't his usual cheery self today. Did something happen yesterday that I wasn't told about?" Sakura shrugged his arm off her shoulder and headed into the gambling room. 

"He took me ice skating, nothing major." Kisame chuckled mischievously, following her to a table in the back where they could order drinks. 

"Ah, did he propose courtship or something? No? He looks totally rejected. He asked you something, didn't he?" Sakura growled in annoyance, removing her cloak and letting it fall off her back to pool around her on the cushions. 

"He asked why I wasn't taken already, but that's not the same thing. He's just shaken because of what I told him, it was probably uncomfortable to listen to." A waitress came to take their orders and Kisame asked for a jug of rice sake. 

"Oh, so what did you tell him, Sakura-san? Why don't you have a lover in the night time? That's something I'm curious about myself. It's unusual to see a girl your age so free and unattached."

Sakura felt annoyance build a pyre to set on fire in her stomach. Every word on this subject was just another layer of kindling. There were stray sparks scattered all throughout her heart. Would one catch fire and set her ablaze? Sakura felt her words sting before they even left her mouth.

"I've never had a lover or anything like that. The only guy I ever had any real feelings for… died in my arms before I could do anything about it. I told Haku about it in a bit more detail, and he hasn't looked at me the same since, so don't press the matter unless you want to stir my ire."

The waitress came back with their drinks and Kisame didn't hesitate to take his fill, but he paused before offering some to Sakura. She waved it off and so he retracted his arm with the bottle. After a minute Sakura stood, making Kisame look up in surprise.

"Where are you going?" he asked from under his hat.

"I need to take a walk. Don't mind me."

By the look on his face, he would have liked to have kept her by his side, or at least in eyesight, but Sakura felt irritated and walking had always worked to help alleviate agitation in the past, so there was no reason it shouldn't help her now. The pyre in her chest was high and there were flames licking its base. It took a concentrated effort on her part to keep the wood resistant and her emotions under control. Her hands itched and her fingers wanted to twitch.

The floors were covered in gambling mats and rings where petty men and villagers leaned in, hoping to win their fortune with a lucky roll of the dice or sticks. There were a few games she didn't recognize, being Japanese in nature, but all the games seemed pretty confusing…or was that just her head making everything messy for her eyes.

"You old hag!" an angry villager who had more muscle than teeth hollered, pointing a finger at the woman who sat opposite of him. "What the hell are you saying?"

Sakura followed the villager's line of sight to see an older woman well-past her prime, but still elegant with strong eyes and a taunting smile. Her hands were thin and Sakura could see the veins disturb the once smooth surface underneath the knuckles as she fanned her dice with a worn fan.

"Everything else is shit, so tonight luck is taking me home. Why not play with that sort of confidence, eh? You're turning people off with that worried face of yours."

"I'll show you, old cow," he bellowed, reaching out and grabbing the dice.

The man reached towards the tiles on his side and laid a few out on the mat and the old woman did the same. A cup was overturned for each player, signaling that they were done placing their bets, so the man mustered up a great show of effort and rolled the dice theatrically, never once letting his face break from it's grimace.

Sakura watched with the crowd as the dice spun, turning wildly on it's point before falling down on it's side, showing off a japanese character. The crowd broke up in a loud noise, one half clearly excited at the roll while the other half moaned loudly and cursed just as loud.

The man who rolled was likely the loudest of them all. No one even bothered to try and stop him when he roared and ripped across the ground towards the old woman. She cackled and raised a fist to catch his. Sakura felt the world tilt a little when she saw the smaller woman with wrinkled hands catch a fist as big as her face as if it was nothing. The man recovered quickly enough, reaching back and then taking another shot at her, one she blocked just as well. This time, she pushed him back and while he was off balance, she reeled and let her own fist fly straight into his chest.

If Sakura hadn't been dreaming, she might not have believed it even though she saw it all with her own two eyes. The man over twice her size with a body made for killing, sailed through the air, crashing clean through a wooden pillar as thick as Kisame, before rolling through a crown of men, and continuing to sail into a table that broke under his weight on the opposite side of the room. Such a distance… and with just one hand. The old woman hadn't even put her shoulder or any of her body into that move.

Too many people rushed to the fallen man's side to help him up, only a few stayed behind to keep their eyes on the older woman who picked up her things and carried her winnings out with her, looking only a little pleased. Sakura dashed out to follow her. No one else dared. Sakura followed her down a hallway and around a corner leading to the outside before the blond stopped and turned to look behind her. Sakura didn't try to hide, that wasn't her intention.

"What do you want? The winnings aren't worth it, kid." The blond woman blinked, and then as if seeing Sakura for the first time, made a low whistle. "Not that it looks like you couldn't make that on your own. A Mizu woman?"

"How did you know I came from the village hidden in the mist?"

"You smell enough like the sea for there to be no doubt. It's in your skin and hair, a few days won't wash that out of you. Now it's your turn. What are you following me for?" Sakura swallowed, preparing her words before they left her mouth. 

"You used chakra just now to throw that guy, and you're using chakra right now. You're in a glamor and I can see through it."

Nothing happened for a heartbeat and then the woman straightened herself, letting the illusion fall off her face. She was older, maybe the age of Sakura's own mother, but this blond woman wasn't a crone or anything close. A few crow's feet in the corner of her eyes, but nothing more to betray her lack of youth. A black diamond rested just above the spot between her brows. She smirked and it was somewhat bitter. 

"A chakra user yourself, are you? What did you hope to gain by following me out here?"

"I want to know how to fight hand to hand combat with chakra infused strength like that." Sakura held up her sword, separating it from the side of her belt. "I can use my chakra on this, but I've always been a better hand to hand fighter." The woman didn't seem impressed. 

"And why do  _ you _ need such power? Just bat your eyes and a pretty boy will gladly bend over backwards for whatever you need."

"I intend to kill the virgin stealer, the three tailed crab beast of Mizu."

For a breath, the world was mute and only each other existed. Then the spell was broken by a short bark of laughter. Sakura frowned, controlling her anger and saving it for later.

"Ho, how funny, little girls with nothing better to do than fix the world. Go home to the bed of your lover and wait in his arms for something better to do. Don't speak to be with any of that self righteous bullshit." Embers snapped at the dry wood in her heart and she felt her heart as parts of her caught on fire. 

"Don't look down on me like that!"

"You expect to be taken seriously?" The blond woman inclined her head. "Then show me what you have that's worth boasting about."

Sakura didn't wait for a second invitation. Leaving her sword behind, Sakura sped towards the woman and rolled into a punch that hit her square in the stomach, but didn't deal enough damage to be worth mentioning. Sakura reeled back just in time and pulled away to avoid a fist that swung like lightning past her face. She dodged again and again, eventually falling backwards and having to roll away to avoid another hit. There was a dull crack and boom as the ground where she had once been standing spit under the force of the woman's heel drive. Craters were left in this woman's wake. Sakura was landing more hits, but her hits weren't dealing very much damage. One strike from the woman, however, and Sakura was a certified goner.

"Damn," Sakura whispered under her breath, bringing her arms in and rolling around the woman's punches.

She knew how to play this game, how to dance this dance, but that didn't mean she would be coming out of it unscathed. Some of those punches were hitting pretty close. Each one that sailed past her cut through the air like a knife through smoke, there was no resistance left over from the chakra. This woman was controlling the energy in her body perfectly. Chakra in the body moved on a frequency like a station on the radio and most people she fought could only manage static. This woman made her chakra sing in perfect pitch.

"That has to be hard," Sakura said aloud, rolling out of range. Before the woman could charge her again, Sakura held up a hand. "How do you make it perfect like that? Your chakra is ultra refined and you're not wasting any of it."

"Stupid question to ask when you're doing the same thing." The woman took a step back to look Sakura over again. "I never met someone who used her chakra as well as me, but you're not even aware of how difficult that is, are you? Of course, you're a fool after all."

Sakura's mind went back, all the way back to the beginning of everything. In her mind's eye she saw herself holding the obelisk before it was ever unsealed or unsolved. The thing that started all of this was Sakura's love of puzzles. Her mind was built to handle puzzles. Something about them just always appealed to her. This chakra fiasco was just another puzzle.

Her mind began to burn as hard as her heart, but her mind was easy to manage. Her mind could always get her out of trouble. Her heart  _ got _ her into trouble. Shapes and angles, frequencies, balances, control… it all came to her and her mind sorted through it like a machine, figuring it out one piece at a time.

The blond woman made a face and then yelled, before charging her with her fist raised high. She was faster than before and closer than ever when she twisted her whole body into the attack. A dull boom echoed in the back of her eardrums as Sakura's chakra clashed with the woman's. People were running out to watch, but no one was brave enough to draw close when they saw that the pink haired girl was holding the fist of the monster woman.

Sakura's lips quirked up in a smile when she saw the older woman's look of surprise. 

"How did you…?"

"I copied that frequency. I didn't know if it would work, but I'm glad the gamble paid off.”

The blond disengaged and stood back from Sakura, but not too far back. The woman was looking Sakura over with new eyes. 

"Who are you?" Sakura inclined her head in an almost bow. 

"The name's Sakura, and I'm no one special." The blond huffed. 

"Somehow I doubt that very much, if those four are watching you like they know you."

Sakura looked back over her shoulder and saw Haku, Zabuza and Kisame standing at the front of the crowd with a fourth member. The rest of the people were starting to wander back inside the inn, pretending they hadn't seen a fight between two equally powerful women. The fourth man with them was a boy a bit older than Haku with shoulder length white hair and whiter eyes. A long wide sword was hung over his back.

When Sakura turned back to look at the old woman, she nearly took a step back, the woman was that much closer. The blond smirked, seeing Sakura's reaction. 

"You can call me Tsunade, the slug princess. I think it would be a good idea if we had a drink in my room, Sakura."

Sakura watched with her back to the wall as Haku paced back and forth in agitation, complaining to Kisame how everything was a bad idea and how bringing attention would only put Sakura in greater danger because of their proximity to Mizu.

"God, does that brat shut up?" Mangetsu growled, pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers. Before anyone could answer him, he tossed a thin senbon needle at Haku's face. Haku caught it easily enough, but it got him to shut up and that was all it was really meant to do.

"No fighting inside the Lord's suite," Tsunade growled before tipping back another dish shaped cup of sake. "Honestly, men can't ever…"

Mangetsu glowered with his arms crossed over his chest, but said nothing as Haku mutely folded his legs and sat down beside him. The white haired boy peeked over at Sakura and she smiled a little smile, trying to be friendly. Mangetsu made a grunting sound and looked away, angry. Ah, well it was worth a try.

"Tsunade-hime," Zabuza spoke up, addressing Tsunade as princess. "Were you in this area by any chance to hunt down the six tailed slug, Saiken?" Tsunade huffed. 

"Sneaky bastard as always, bloody demon." If Zabuza was offended by the title, he didn't show it, but Sakura thought he would be, based off of what she knew of him. Tsunade huffed and turned her attention out the window. 

"Yeah, I tracked it's host, Utakata, down to this area. Apparently that brat missed the place where he came from, as all lonely souls eventually do, but he's smart, so there isn't a lot left for me to track."

"That's surprising to hear, considering your connection to the monster. I would have thought Saiken unable to hide from your eyes." Zabuza's tone was even and respectful, but the unspoken words that passed between him and the older woman were biting. When Tsunade turned to glare at him, his eyes did not waver from her gaze. Haku made a displeased sound in the back of his throat and Mangetsu looked like he wanted to hit something.

"Don't worry, Zabuza-san, I'll deal with my monster before you deal with yours. Hn, and speaking of which…" Sakura stiffened when she felt the older woman turn and set her eyes on Sakura. "You're the one who so arrogantly stated you were going to kill the virgin stealer. Have you ever hunted a tailed beast before?"

Sakura shook her head but didn't answer, feeling like her voice would disturb something in the room. She felt so small under Tsunade's gaze.

"Not many have, but that's to be expected, especially among women. Nah, I can't remember the last time I fought or saw another kunoichi."

The japanese word translated into 'female ninja' in her head. Kunoichi, was that what she was?

"Kunoichi don't use swords, Tsunade-hime," Zabuza added rather forcefully. He sounded like he was defending her honor, like being called a kunoichi was a slur or a negative identifier.

"Ah, but kunoichi are the ones who use chakra. Your silly swordsmen code of conduct or whatever you call it prohibits such an unfair advantage, isn't that right?"

"Times have changed."

Tsunade smiled slyly, pouring for herself another drink and holding the cup to her lips, letting the alcohol settle into a mirror before knocking it back. Sakura couldn't see Kisame, who hid in the corner where the shadows were longest, but from the expressions of the other males present it was evident that more was being said with every exchange. Sakura could feel it too, how the atmosphere was heavy and choking at times, charged with venom.

Tsunade was the daughter of a powerful Feudal Lord, and the granddaughter of the last emperor through her mother. Though there were plenty of cousins and second cousins who could also make that claim, few were revered as highly as the blond woman on account of her own accomplishments in the world.

Sakura heard the whispers when they passed in the hallways after Tsunade had let down her disguise. The diamond tattoo on her forehead that gleamed like a jewel was marker enough for even the servants to recognize. They called her the slug princess or slug hime, based on how she had managed to form a contract and tame a wild beast from the slug clan with her chakra.

Unlike most who were looked down upon for having chakra in their blood, children and grandchildren of the emperor were revered for it, like it was their birthright. The double standard was distasteful, but at least it made sense. It was just another way for the people in power to keep their power.

With a powerful name and reputation, as well as the chakra strong in her blood, Tsunade stood like a god among men. The best foods were set before her, the best rooms reserved for her, and the kindest words uttered for her. Her clothes were all of the finest quality and her coin purse was heavy and bulging. By all accounts Tsunade should have been a happy woman, but Sakura found her bitter and a little more than just passive aggressive.

Finishing her sake, Tsunade set the cup down and leaned back on her hands, staring across the room at Sakura, even though it was Zabuza she addressed when she opened her mouth. 

"You'll leave the girl with me. She'll spend the night in this room with me, and in the morning she will help me track the monster while I train her. Regardless of the outcome, you can have her back in a month."

"Eh?!" Haku exclaimed, sitting up fast and speaking out of turn. "You're  _ taking _ Sakura?"

"What, you can't stand to be parted from the pretty female? You're handsome enough, find yourself a girl under the red lights, boy." Tsunade chuckled darkly. 

"That has nothing to do with it," Zabuza bit out, ignoring Haku who blushed red and drifted back down to his knees. "Sakura-san has been in training with us and her skills are not yet proficient enough for either I or Kisame to feel comfortable letting her go."

"Her skills with the sword don't mean anything to me. I plan on teaching her how to manipulate her chakra in hand to hand combat as well as medical jutsu."

"Still, her training is incomplete." The blond woman scoffed darkly.

"You just don't want to lose your bait." Her head tilted down, making the shadows around her eyes dangerous. When she smiled, it was the smile of someone who was used to having her way and knowing the power behind why she got her way. "Sorry, but this really isn't up for debate. She's coming with me. If she wants to go back to you once the month is over then that is her prerogative, but until then, you have no say over her fate."

The way she spoke made it sound like Sakura was being used by the males, but she knew that wasn't true. Sakura wanted to be there more than they wanted her there, she was sure.

"Tsunade-sama," she ventured, addressing the woman with the utmost respect, "I was the one who sought Zabuza and Kisame-san out in the first place. That was my decision, not theirs."

"And you don't think you're being taken advantage of?" she laughed, clearly not asking it as an actual question, but in sarcasm, "No, don't overestimate the manipulations of men, though subtle they may be. Maybe you do want to be there, but don't be fooled into thinking you're the only one who benefits from such an arrangement."

"I think you are too harsh," Sakura whispered, keeping her face bowed and her eyes down. She didn't know how far she could go with voicing her opinions to this woman of power.

"If that is how you see it, then so be it. Let yourself see the situation thus, and I won't lose sleep over it." She reached for her jug of sake and found it empty. Frowning, she set it back down on the low tray and waved it away, pretending she wasn't wanting more. "Speaking of sleep, I'm tired. Sakura will stay with me, the rest of you can take your leave of us. There is little more I wish to discuss with souls before the night grows old."

Sakura watched silently as the boys filed out. Zabuza was the first to leave, obviously in a hurry to get out of her presence along with Mangetsu. Haku looked back at her, but Sakura wouldn't raise her eyes for him. She didn't like the way he looked at her after sharing her story of Sasori. She felt wrong for telling him now that this was how he treated her. Kisame prodded Haku out with his thumb before following the younger kid, but he paused on the threshold to stare back and her, and this time Sakura lifted her eyes. His gaze wasn't pitying, but challenging.

' _ You are strong, prove it to her _ .'

And then he was gone.

Like Tsunade said, the night was late, and it was almost past time for her to wake up, but for whatever reason, she still had a little bit of time, she could feel that in her bones and in the air around her. There was still something here for her to do.

"Did you turn that one down?"

"What?" Sakura looked up, a bit startled to be addressed so casually. Tsunade shot her an annoyed look. 

"The boy, the one that looked at you like a kicked puppy. You dump him or turn him down? What's the story with that one." Sakura didn't think it was really any of Tsunade's business, but telling her that wasn't worth the stress. 

"Haku… was never, we were never involved. I don't know why he's acting like that, but it's because I told him something I shouldn't have." When Tsunade sent her a demanding look, Sakura knew she wouldn't be allowed to get away with being vague. "Before… I came here… I was never a married or courted woman, which is what he asked, but there was a man I came to care for deeply. By the time I came to love him, it was too late, and he was dead. That seems to have disturbed Haku."

_ She fell silent and became terribly attentive to his face as he tried to find her with his eyes. She knew the moment he did because the corner of his lips turned up. "Kiss me." _

She swallowed hard and swore to herself that this would be the last time she saw that image in her head or summoned it with her words. She was done digging up that stupid memory and suffering with each second of the retelling.

When she looked up, Tsunade was watching her harder than before. Sakura felt herself being stripped away under the gaze until she was naked and vulnerable, no matter how hard she tried to hide. It was like, just by looking at her, Tsunade knew everything about Sakura's situation. So when she asked, "Did you kill him?" Sakura knew what Tsunade was really asking.

'How did you know he was killed?' she wanted to ask, but when she opened her mouth, the words that came out were, "No, but I cut off his hand, and now he'll live the rest of his short life as a pariah because of me."

Tsunade smiled, and it was the last thing Sakura saw before waking up, but it stayed in her mind the rest of her waking day. Her smile was too genuine to be just appreciative.

Ami had moved into one of the less furnished rooms and had already bought a few things to make the space feel more like her own. Some of these things included another clothes rack, a floor mirror, her desktop computer, and a huge stack of fashion magazines.

Sakura walked into her roommate's room and recognized the suitcase sitting on the edge of the bed.

"You going somewhere?" Ami poked her head out of the tiny closet. 

"Not for long, cause my dad is pretending he's going away on business, but I know it's cause they're really fighting and he needs to go off to another country where she can't follow him. He asked me to come along so the rest of the family doesn't think he's going off to see a mistress."

"Your family life sounds so fun," Sakura dryly commented.

Back in high-school, it wasn't a stretch to see that Ami's parents weren't as perfect as they pretended to be, but after coming to know their daughter more, Sakura had a better idea of just how damaged the relationship was. It was only the extremely traditional extended family that kept the husband and wife from getting a divorce, according to Ami.

"Join the club, we're all from messed up families. I mean, not Karin, but those guys aren't her real parents… so." Sakura nodded as the memory surfaced. 

"They had a son who died when he was an infant. Kushina is her real aunt, so they were always involved in her life in one way or another. They took her after Karin's mom left one day and never came back. Months later, they found the woman in a trash bag. It messed Karin up, but having a support system made out of people who love you unconditionally like that… it made her stronger."

"I bet." Ami stood out of the closet with a few things in her hands. She had a worried expression on that made Sakura chuckle.

"What? Can't decide what to take?"

"No, it's you. Are you going to be okay without me?" Sakura felt the soft smile fall off her face. 

"What do you mean?"

"You're having nightmares or something a lot of the time. You were crying in your sleep last night. Will you be fine without someone here or like… someone to talk to? I mean, I'm not that much of a help and I haven't done much, but I always thought the offer was open with me." Sakura had been crying in her sleep? Was that because of Sasori? 

"It's nothing, I just get nightmares. It's normal, and I deal with them like an adult. I'm not a kid anymore so I know they're just dreams. Don't worry about me, and enjoy France."

Sakura opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by expensive sheets and dressed in a silk sleeping kimono of deep emperor's blue. Her hair was a loose mess around her face, sticking to her cheeks. There was light coming in from outside her window, and on the other side of the wall she could hear the muffled snores of the woman from last night. Tsunade was still asleep.

Judging by all the empty sake bottles left over from her drinking binge, it was likely best for Tsunade to stay asleep for as long as possible in hope of putting off the hangover that was sure to rip into her at the first possibility. It was one of the reasons Sakura wasn't considered a drinker. Once was enough to convince her it was never worth it to indulge in angry vices like drowning your sorrows in Jack Daniels. Maybe sake was more forgiving than whiskey.

She rolled over in her sheets and tried stretching her arms out to push herself up on, but something akin to a spasm made her elbows buckle and fall back into her sheets. She groaned, feeling the tingles run up and down her arms when she tried moving them again. It wasn't terrible, but it was as if her arms had fallen asleep on her, and it was always weird to feel pain in a dream. As an experiment, she kicked her legs out around her and tried to move them as well and nothing really happened. Exploring her body's limits, she found the majority of her pain centered around her elbows and wrists and even her knuckles, but nothing seemed damaged aside from some light scraping atop her hands from when she used her fists.

"What the hell is this?" she asked aloud, flopping back into the sheets and dropping her arm over her eyes.

It was a while before she noticed it was too quiet.

Tsunade had stopped snoring.

Ignoring the pain, Sakura forced herself up and hobbled over to the wall that separated her from the older woman's room. There certainly wasn't any snoring anymore, but there were voices. That meant more than one. She pressed her ear to the wall and held her breath, stilling her heart as much as she could so that no sound existed between her and the desired conversation she was convinced existed. Closing her eyes and concentrating, the rest of the world fell away.

"…No reason to think it would be any different from the last attempt." It was a male voice, calm and controlled.

"It's always different. Every time we fight we change, for better or worse. He's wounded now."

"Making it that much more difficult to find."

"I can find him," Tsunade sneered a little louder. Sakura heard the woman hiss, maybe about a headache.

"Please, hime-sama, rest your efforts until you are recovered."

"From my hangover? It'll be gone in an hour. By then I'll have something to eat and be ready to check out. I can't waste time now, I have the edge I need." There was a pause before the male voice ventured another phrase. 

"The girl?"

"She has chakra control like I've never seen before, maybe even better than my own. Her reserves are a national wonder in and of themselves, but she uses it like a child, effortlessly. It's like she doesn't even know how difficult it is, what she is doing. She could be trained as a medic and travel after Utakata with me while he's still wounded."

"He will recover shortly. I would never doubt your skills, but a pupil can not be so easily trained." Tsunade snorted. 

"That's the beauty of it, she doesn't need much. The swordsmen of Mizu were training her before I insisted. She doesn't need much but a bit of guidance."

"And you thought it was fair to bring a new soul into this venture. She could die." There was the sound of rustling sheets, like someone tossing blankets across the room. 

"It's not something she didn't ask for. She was training with those freaks so she could kill the three tailed crab. If she was willing to go after that tailed beast, she can help me with mine. It's not more powerful, and in it's wounded state, no issue to me." There was another pause and then the male spoke up again, this time his voice was more stern. 

"You should not let your thirst for revenge stain your hands. Are you so hungry for vengeance that you are willing to endanger innocents?"

"She's hardly a child, Hound," Tsunade snorted.

"She's young. She's at the age of foolish reveries, and this is just an issue she doesn't understand. The risk and loss are too great." This time, instead of a snort it was an actual laugh. Tsunade's voice was sharp and venomous with an under layer of sarcastic mirth that the woman had long since mastered. 

"Don't speak of loss when you don't even know her name. She might be a little less doe eyed than you first assumed her to be. If I didn't know better, I'd say you'd already romanticized her from a tiny peek under the moonlight. Ho, is that it? She remind you of someone cute and lovely?"

"Hime-sama…"

"You and Sickle were both oddly obedient when I told you I was taking in a guest. I was wondering why you weren't questioning my decisions, and now it's clear. Sorry, Hound, it's been too long since you've seen something cute and pretty. Nothing but whores and tired geisha under the red lanterns, am I right?" There was another deep sigh and Tsunade laughed scornfully to herself. 

"Fine, I'm going to dress and take care of this migraine. You can decide with Sickle who wants to go in and wake the girl. I plan on leaving soon. She should be ready sooner."

Sakura pulled herself away from the wall and backed up, wondering how long it would be before someone came to her door. Hound or Sickle…those sounded like code names or nicknames. It wasn't long before there was a light tapping at the sliding door that led her outside, and a moment later it slid sideways a crack, before the man kneeling down pushed it the rest of the way open, staying on his knees and keeping his head down. It was her first time seeing this man, but there was something familiar about him, aside from the fact he was wearing a white full-face mask with the eye slits painted in red.

"My apologies, the hime-sama wishes to speak with you. Will you please make yourself ready for her audience?"

"Tsunade…wait, who are you? What are you doing here? There was no one else in the suite last night when I went to bed." Sakura almost let her voice trailed off as she remembered falling asleep somewhere other than her room, and in different clothes. "Oh damn it," she hissed, looking down to see if she was still at least wearing her underwear. Dream or not, she didn't want perverts peeking at her body. The conversation from earlier started to make sense. "Who touched me?!"

On the other side of the wall Tsunade roared loudly, and the man at her door lowered his head as the older woman reveled in Sakura's outburst. Sakura sighed, running a hand through her hair, feeling her cheeks warm as the laughing continued.

"I… will leave you to prepare yourself," the man at the door weekly supplied, keeping his masked face down as he slid the door shut and scooted away.

Sakura turned to face the far wall and undid her sleeping kimono. As it fell away from her body, she envisioned a hybrid of a traditional haori robe over a modern bodysuit of black that was easy to move and run in. She tied the bronze jacket, detailed with black koi fish, tight enough to show her figure, but loose enough to not be constricting when she bent down or twisted. She tied her hair up into a high ponytail that reminded her how much her hair had grown.

When she stepped out of her room, a woman from the inn was leaving food at the table with her head down. Another girl scurried out from behind her with more food, and between the both of them, there was enough luxury food for more than just two women and one mysterious disappearing man. Considering that Sakura didn't even need to eat, it was a waste of food in a land where the hungry outnumbered the fed.

Sakura spotted the masked man from earlier and glared a little. His head hung lower as if a weight had settled around his neck. Absently, he played with his fingers a bit, pushing his index fingers against one another in an idle manner. She refrained from calling him a pervert under her breath, even though she didn't know for sure he actually saw anything or did anything. He just reminded her of a guilty dog that had been caught with the stolen cookies in his mouth. It didn't hurt that his mask looked like the face of a dog. Sakura assumed this was the person Tsunade called Hound. It  _ would _ make sense.

"Comfortable?" a throaty voice asked from behind her. Sakura turned to see a bleary eyed Tsunade leaning against the wall outside her room. Her arms were folded under her chest, but she held herself in a manner that was deceptively alert. Her eyes were glassy and half caught in sleep, but she looked as if she could snap someone over her knee at the drop of a hat.

"Considering how much you drank, I didn't expect you to be awake so early, much less up and out of bed," Sakura casually commented, not caring if her words were a bit more direct and informal. Tsunade was a princess in the eyes of others. She likely wasn't used to being talked to in such a way. The blond laughed, not at all offended. 

"Such a thing…no, not at this point. There isn't a drink brewed strong enough to keep me placated for long. That…and I filter the alcohol out of my blood in the morning with my chakra. If I didn't, my kidneys would be dead."

"You use what?" Sakura blinked, trying to think back to what chakra was and how it was used. Could it be used to filter the blood? Could it be used to heal broken bodies? "You can use chakra to heal yourself?"

"Not typically, it's a rare craft. Most brutes only use their gifts for destruction because  _ hey _ , that's easier. It's infinitely more difficult to heal or fix any part of the body with chakra control because it requires perfect control." Tsunade pushed off the wall and approached the food, sitting down in front of it. "I haven't met many men or women who could use their chakra so flawlessly for the medical arts. If you try and it goes bad… you end up doing more damage than good. Sound like something you're interested in?"

"Considering my attraction to danger, that sounds like something useful. What do I have to do if I wanted to learn how to heal like you? Do I have that ability?"

"The only reason I'm talking to you about this is because I plan on making you my apprentice, like it or not. There are too few medics in the world to deprive it of another."

"Like it or not?" Sakura played with a piece of food, feeling no real need to consume it. "What if I had said no?"

"You wouldn't have." Sakura tried to dredge up some anger, because she knew she should be rightly offended, but it was hard to feel anything fiery or mad against this woman. 

"There's no way you could have known that. There are people in this world who will tell you no. You just haven't met enough of them."

"And you won't be one of them," the old lady snapped, raising a single brow as if to challenge Sakura.

"Am I?" Sakura baited.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, looking the girl over. The man called Hound stiffened in the corner, but didn't raise his masked face or move from his place. Still, the tension was enough to be felt by even him.

Finally Tsunade smiled and laughed, reaching over and plucking up a sushi roll to plop into her mouth whole. Licking the rice caught in the corners of her mouth she narrowed her eyes in Sakura's direction again.

"This time, girl," Tsunade said before repeating it once more. "Just for this this time." Sakura took a sushi roll for herself and mimicked Tsunade's actions, plopping it into her mouth and licking free the rice caught in the corners of her mouth. 

"Fair enough. This isn't a time where I'm being forced to do something I don't want to."

"Speaking of such things… Sickle, when are you going to bring that man in here?!" Tsunade called out loudly.

Sakura turned to look over her shoulder at the door leading out to the hallway, where there were two looming shadows visible through the rice door screens. One was much larger than the other. The door slid back and Sakura almost gasped when she saw Kisame standing there, looking grim in the face as a much smaller, skinnier boy held a katana out between them. Kisame didn't look threatened, and entered without invitation, marching right up to their table and falling down behind Sakura.

"Kisame," Sakura breathed, a little lost for words as she watched him reach over and help himself to the food, not bothering to ask if that was okay. Sakura tried turning around to get a better look at his face, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. "What are you doing here?" she tried asking.

"Eating."

"Why are you in this room that belongs to Tsunade when you knew I would be left here with her?" Kisame stuffed two sushi rolls into his mouth and chewed viciously before swallowing with a dish cup of what smelled like sake. 

"I came to follow you." Sakura blinked, a bit taken aback by the answer. 

"Why?" He drank more sake without meeting her eyes. 

"Cause I think you're going to die if you go with that old woman after a tailed beast. The way you are now, you won't survive the fight, and you made a promise to kill our tailed beast already."

Sakura felt a little corner in her chest swell with something close to happiness. It almost sounded like he was worried about her and didn't want to admit it. Could that really be his reason for seeking her out even after Zabuza and Haku left with the new guy?

"He was worried you'd die before you could throw your body in front of his own problem," Tsunade muttered, looking down at the grains of rice stuck to her fingertips. She licked them clean one by one. "Don't get sentimental about a guy. If it's not the one thing, it's something else they want to use you for." Kisame looked over at the reclining woman and glared. 

"Weren’t you the one just talking about using her as you liked,  _ regardless of her choices _ ?"

"Not denying it, I see," Tsunade hummed coyly. "This is why I don't trust men."

"You trusted those dicks enough to let them carry swords around you," Kisame snarly dryly before leaning in closer to Sakura. "And don't generalize half a population because you're too bitter to get laid in your old age, hag."

The two retainers, Hound and Sickle seemed to stiffen and even Sakura wanted to gasp at Kisame's words. Forget about being rude, Tsunade probably never got insulted so directly by anyone. Sakura glanced back and forth between the two figures, trying to figure out if Kisame was a goner or not. So far, Tsunade seemed unreadable. Finally, her lips parted and the room seemed to lean in to hear the words from her mouth. 

"Ah, and here I thought the boy was the whipped one, but at least he left. Seems that was something not even you could do, but that's understandable. When was the last time a woman came to you willingly for any reason at all? With a face like yours, I doubt you have many friends, much less lovers."

"What's wrong with your head, you senile old woman?" Kisame coughed, reaching for more food, “It's like you heard last night. Sakura hasn't finished training with us, and we don't feel comfortable letting her go so easily when we know the work we began with her is unfinished. You have a complaint about me sticking around?"

"Depends on how clingy a bastard you turn out to be. Did you bother asking Sakura if she even wanted your company? I won't object to it if she asks, but I'm not one to open my arms to cocky bull shitters who think they can get away with spitting nonsense." Tsunade switched her gaze to land on Sakura. "Eh, what do you say, girl? He worth your time?"

From beside her, Sakura could feel Kisame stiffen, as if he was suddenly anxious or on edge for her response in a way he had never been when conversing with Tsunade. Did he think she would honestly say no and have him thrown out? Was he bracing for rejection?

"Of course," Sakura quickly answered, not wanting to drag out the silence any longer, "Kisame is my friend. He's helped me many times and I owe him a lot. If he wants to, I would appreciate it if you could accept him into your group along with me." She finished with a short bow of her head and shoulders.

Tsunade hummed into the heel of her hand as she leaned her head against her palm. She looked back at the men named Hound and Sickle before her eyes tracked to Kisame's guarded expression. She smiled secretly when she saw something on his face, but Sakura didn't turn around to see what it was. 

"Fine," the woman finally said, "He'll come, but I won't have him interfering with any of your training. I only have you for a month, and before that month is up I will kill the six tailed slug, Saiken, which brings me to my next point. Eat quickly because we are departing soon."

The blond woman huffed and took a plate full of food from the table and stood to leave for her room with it. Hound got up to follow her, but the male named Sickle remained seated in the corner, watching Kisame from behind his white ferret styled mask.

Kisame didn't say anything to Sakura, and she didn't start anything. Together the pair ate in silence before Sakura excused herself to get up and see to her things and make sure she was ready to leave. She was standing up when Kisame's hand on her wrist stopped her. She froze and looked down at the blue fingers wrapped tight.

"Hey." His voice brought her attention away from his hands and up to his face. He was looking straight at her and his expression was a bit more serious. "Listen… th-thank you for accepting my company. I will work hard so as to not disappoint you." Sakura tried for an easy smile. 

"It's only natural, right? There shouldn't be any reason to thank me. I kind of owe you my life anyway, for saving me from Zabuza."

"That's not something you need to feel like you have to repay, and you were never in debt to me. Oi, just listen when a person thanks you properly. You don't owe me nothing, so don't think like that in the future." He let go of her hand and Sakura smiled, realizing that it hadn't been so bad, (his hold), and that she wouldn't have to worry about bruises. 

"Alright," she agreed before heading to her room. "I'll keep that in mind for the future."

Sakura rolled out of bed feeling like she didn't want to leave it, which wasn't unusual once the seasons started getting colder. It was an old house she was living in, after all, so the mornings tended to be a bit on the nippy side. Still, today's feeling had less to do with the cold and more to do with her dreams.

"What the hell am I doing?" she sighed aloud, running her hands through her hair to keep it away from her face. She felt the ends get caught up in her fingers and pulled her hands away to let it all fall back to her face. When she opened her eyes again she caught her reflection in the mirror.

It was stupid how she almost expected to see the high ponytail and kimono styled jacket she had been wearing in her dreams… but that wasn't reality. That world was just a dream. When she was awake, she was in the real world. The real world was the world that mattered. Not the dream world. The dreams are only dreams. They mean nothing.

"Ami?" Sakura called out suddenly, forgetting that her friend was away. When silence greeted her Sakura cursed and reached over to turn her ipod on shuffle for her morning music. She had things she needed to do and feeling sorry for herself wasn't one of them.

She showered, got semi dressed, and logged onto her class website to finish the assessments she had been taking all week. There was a lot of homework to catch up on since she liked to let it pile up, and she got it all out in one sitting once the semester was nearly finished. Halfway through, her resolve to be a perfect student started to falter, and she began to look more and more like all the other students who were worn out and couldn't give a crap. Sakura still gave a crap, enough to pass with an A, but less of an effort was being put forth on her part.

Ah, but this semester was nearly over, and she still needed to find more scholarships for the next year. If she didn't start now, all the good ones would be gone, forcing her to pay most of the way again. Even with Ami renting, money was tight. Work was drying up too, little by little. And didn't her phone bill go up again?

"Shit," she said out loud, holding the side of her head.

A call from Karin made her phone cut out the music and start playing the theme music from the Wizard of Oz, when the wicked Witch of the West shows up. It was something Karin made her do for Halloween, but since that was done, Sakura would have to change it to something else.

"Yo?" Sakura answered, putting it on speaker so she could continue to type out her discussion form post.

"Wanna come to the arcade with the boys tonight? We're punishing the new kids by giving them the heavy shift," Karin laughed.

"You know I was thinking about changing your ringtone back, but this witch music makes a bit more sense now." Karin chuckled and it sounded almost like a witch's laugh. 

"Duh, that's what they called me all through high school, right? So, will you come?"

"I don't have a lot of gas."

"Is that a no?"

Sakura saved her work and moved her fingers over the touchpad so that her cursor hi lighted the green submit button. She clicked, and the loading bar came up. A second later, it lit up all the way and her 3,000 word submission was sent. 

"Nah, I'll come, but I want you to feel guilty about it. Let me have some pizza for it or something."

"I'm surprised you're not sick of our food, considering how much of it you eat."

"I could say the same for you," Sakura said, closing down her computer and turning off the desk lamp. "Let me get changed into something nicer and I'll be there by five."

"Something nicer? Are you in sweats or are you trying to impress someone?"

"I'm actually not wearing any pants at all right now. You think that's okay for the boys?" Sakura joked, leaving her phone on speaker as she struggled out of her long sleeved, flannel tunic.

"I'm sure they would appreciate, but that's really not the point here. I'm hanging up, get decent and meet me at the Crown when you're not so much of a man killer."

The line went dead just as Sakura finished pulling on her high waisted sailor jeans. She had a red button front shirt that had faded over the years to a dull rose. It sort of looked patriotic alongside her white flats. She rolled her hair into a bun and tied it up with a bandana before painting her lips a bright red, but left her eyes undone aside from the winged eyeliner she applied earlier that morning.

"Why did you paint on your eye liner when you didn't think you were going out?" Sakura asked herself in the mirror as she clipped on her starburst dangle earrings. Her voice was low and an imitation of a male before switching over to a high falsetto. 

"Cause I wanted to feel pretty, asshole. Hmph, and damn if it's not on point today. Killing it!"

Little things helped her remember this was the real world. Little things helped keep her grounded. Feeling good made her feel awake.

The Crown arcade wasn't far from the pizzeria. A block and a half at most, it was a favorite place for the girls to walk to and hang out when the stress couldn't be solved any other way.

The Crown was never very busy, and made most of its money off of the snacks and drinks it sold, but that never seemed to bother Old Man Jacob, since he had no other family to look after or provide for. His wife died of cancer when she was still young, and years later all three of his children died in accidents one way or another. Sakura didn't know of a person that had worse luck than the owner of Crown, but for some reason the grief never consumed him. He opened up an arcade out of his old, Greek restaurant, and made it a safe place for teenagers to hang out in.

Sakura remembered the old man being especially kind to students who would come in looking to make trouble or steal something. Jacob would sit with a lot of these youth and talk to them in a manner much like a parent's. Of course, that wasn't an insta-fix for all of them, or even most of them, but Crown was one of the few places that never saw any trouble with vandalism or theft for one reason or another.

Sakura parked behind Karin's place and walked over. She could hear the group inside before she could see them. They were all playing racing games. There was a set of four for a game called Grand Prix 10000, with recliner seats and a race track that was more pixelated than most people's phones. It was an old classic.

Without greeting, Sakura slipped into the last free seat and dropped in a quarter to start the game. Wordlessly, she entered the virtual world and shifted into gear to keep up with the lesser models of her own ride. Juugo crashed early on, but Suigetsu and Karin were both in first place in their respective games while trying to beat the other's time. Sakura was in the middle of her own track when Karin started hollering loudly. Suigetsu groaned and fell onto his wheel, fake sobbing. While the two complained about a second of difference, Juugo came over to lean against Sakura's seat.

"Rough week?" he asked, smiling down at her with sympathetic eyes.

"Not at all," she answered, "Just a weird set of dreams, if that makes any sense."

"For creative people it does." Sakura felt a smile forming and decided not to fight it. 

"You think I'm creative?"

"Yeah, always. I've never… like, read anything you've written or seen your art work, but it… it's in the little things. Like, napkin doodles or conversations about book characters and Hogwarts Houses. You just seem to  _ think _ creatively." Sakura didn't try to fight off the blush or the feeling of pride swelling her breast. She felt lighter and happier, even if she just fell to third place. 

"That's a nice thing to say." Juugo laughed, rubbing the back of his head. 

"I try to say nice things."

"You're a very nice person, Juugo. Don't change too much, K?"

Juugo leaned his head down so that it was hidden behind the headrest of Sakura's seat. Before she had been able to see his face in the glare on the screen, but now it was out of sight. Still, she heard a muffled, "Mmhum, okay."

Sakura's race car spun off the track and pitched over the side of a cliff into the ocean. She laughed as the tragic GAME OVER sign flashed across the screen. 

"Ah, it's been so long since I last played this game. Come on, Juugo. I want to try one of the fighter games. You can try and beat me at Mortal Kombat."

Sakura awoke with a start and rolled violently out of the way, her body reacting physically before her mind had the chance to catch up with what was happening. She just narrowly avoided Tsunade's fist in the face. Where her head had been was a fist sized crater and the angry woman's glowing knuckles.

"What the hell!?" Sakura whined, backing up and jumping out of the way when Tsunade charged at her.

So this is what she meant when she said first thing in the morning.  _ Be prepared from the moment you first open your eyes, brat _ . Sakura felt like screaming in frustration.

Tsunade chased her, and Sakura ran from the campsite, forgetting to cry out for help and wake Kisame or the others…not that she thought Hound or Sickle would ever bother to help her. No, it was probably better that Sakura stayed quiet. This was something she had to do on her own.

"The number one rule for medics… they must always avoid all attacks. Never let your opponent hit you. You have to stay alive to heal others. Yours is a life more valued," Tsunade roared, swinging her fists faster.

Sakura cursed and ducked. Tsunade was fast and it was getting harder and harder to keep out of the way. Sakura didn't get tired, but she was starting to get dizzy. Where were the punches coming from?

Sakura needed distance, so she kicked low into the dirt to send a cloud up between them. Tsunade jumped back to avoid it in her eyes, but Sakura used it as an opportunity to run away, father from the campsite and the woman who was deadly at close range. Sakura needed enough distance to compose herself and get ready to go on the offensive. If she wanted to be able to-!

Sakura screamed as the earth under her broke apart and rose upwards out of the ground. Whole fissures split apart the earth and giant chasms opened up around her. Sakura fell on her hip and scrambled to keep from sliding down into the chasm.

"Where the hell did this come from?" Sakura screamed, before seeing the shadow grow around her. She looked up to see Tsunade with her heel raised falling down towards her. It was all Sakura could do to roll away and jump out of range before the earth was split a second time. This time, Sakura felt the force of it as she was knocked aside, hitting a tree and gasping for breath.

'Not possible,' her mind screamed as she looked up to see the level of destruction this woman brought about. The earth was dominated and left in shattered fragments of rock and dirt. 'With just her body and some chakra…all this.'

"How did you do that?" Sakura asked, standing up and holding her side. Her ribs weren't broken, but they were bruised and hurting.

"Watch and see if you can find out." Tsunade lifted her chin and then her body was moving again, fist raised high in the air. Sakura watched intently as the hand flowed a faint blue, filled with a perfect frequency of chakra, before coming down hard into the earth. Sakura saw it, at the last second, the chakra was let out, released perfectly into a super punch.

It was hard to get away, but this time Sakura was grinning. 

"I can do that."

Sakura pulled back her own fist and summoned the hum of energy called chakra into her left arm. It was wild and snapping at first, but Sakura straightened it out like a needle in her arm, not leaving any room for excess or waste. Perfectly preserved in her arm, She raised her fist and brought it down. At the last second, she let it out and the earth crumbled in a shallow, misshaped crater under her knuckles. She squeaked in surprise, and then in fear when a chasm opened up right under her. She almost fell down it too if Kisame hadn't reached out to grab the back of her hatori and drag her back.

"Damn it, so early in the morning," he half roared, half grumbled. He looked pissed and tired.

"Oi, blue face," Tsunade shouted out, across the rubble, "This is her fight, don't interfere."

"She would have fallen, you heartless witch." The blond was only mildly annoyed, and his insult wasn't the reason for it. 

"She would have learned then, for next time, not to make the same mistake." Sakura scrambled to her feet, ignoring the way her knees bled through her pants or how torn her palms looked. 

"But I don't know what my mistake was. How were you able to control the earthquakes? I didn't see that part." Tsunade frowned harder and jumped off the fragment of earth raised up above the others. When she landed, it was right in front of Sakura. 

"Honestly," she began with a tired voice, "I'm surprised you were able to copy me at all with only watching it once. That's not normal."

"Obviously," Kisame growled, stepping closer to Sakura. "So don't expect so much out of her first thing in the morning. You're a hack if you call that training. What kind of teacher tests without teaching first?"

"Shut up, fish breath. I wanted to see what she could do." Kisame took a step in front of Sakura, crossing his arms in front of his chest. 

"Oh, seen enough?" Tsunade made a face like she was considering challenging Kisame, but then she shook her head. 

"No, that's enough for the morning. Sakura, see me if your ribs are cracked. Otherwise, get yourself some breakfast. We're heading out again in the hour." Tsunade turned and took off with a sudden leap, disappearing into the spaces in between trees. Once she was gone, Kisame turned to look Sakura over. 

"Did she hit you?" he asked, kneeling down so that he could look at her abdomen better. His stubborn fingers ghosted over her ribs, counting and checking them. "Nothing is broken here. Looks like you were just thrown."

"You didn't see that?" Sakura chuckled, feeling the bruises when she breathed. "Ah, I was pathetic."

"You're alive, which is more than can be said for a lot of the other guys she's gone after. She has a reputation, you know. If she wasn't a princess or miracle healer, she would be locked up in a prison for the number of atrocities she's seen fit to placate herself with. Ah, you'll live."

Sakura straightened up and patted down her shoulders and the front of her outfit, shaking dust and dirt free. Her hand brushed the empty space beside her hip where her sword should have been. She hadn't thought to grab it when she was shocked away.

Maybe it was better she was learning this way of fighting. In the past, she had trouble summoning weapons when she was in certain situations. It was a weird science she couldn't figure out or understand, but she knew enough to know that she wouldn't be able to always rely on her ability to form objects out of thought.

Her fists would always be there.

"I just wish I knew how I could control the output. The input was the same, I was on the same frequency as her." Kisame lifted his shoulders before dropping them. 

"Maybe it would be better if you ate something first."

Sakura looked up at Kisame who stood against the early morning sun, cutting it out and hi-lighting the edges of his frame. He towered over Sakura, he always had, but for some reason that didn't really intimidate her as much anymore. The idea that he was scary, something that had always been present during her first few meetings with the swordsman, were only a memory now.

"What are you doing here, Kisame?" she asked. The blue man blinked. 

"What? I thought I explained it already. You needed the help."

"People need help all the time. Why did you want to help me, especially when it took you so far out of your way?" His shoulders did that thing again when they raised and dropped in an imitation shrug, almost like he was trying to throw off his worries. 

"Not everyone is worth helping. You want me to explain every little detail for you?" he snapped, turning suddenly and walking away. He stopped after a couple of steps and glanced back over his shoulder. "Just… get some breakfast before it's gone."

Sakura stayed where she was, watching him walk off on his own before she finally decided to move. When she did, she caught sight of something white between the trees. She hadn't been fast enough to catch it with her eyes, but she was almost positive it had been one of Tsunade's body guards.

By the time she made it back to camp, everyone was already packed up and had finished eating. Only a little scrap of food had been left out for Sakura on a blue handkerchief. Little fish were painted around the edges, and Sakura recognized it easily enough even though no one bothered claiming it as theirs.

It took almost a week's worth of nights before Sakura finally managed to pin Tsunade down and make her explain her earth shattering technique. It was annoying, since Tsunade never took the initiative to offer information up or instruct Sakura in anything. Sakura had to ask for everything.

The blond woman finally relented, stopping for the day and taking Sakura to a secluded area where they could tear up the earth without it hurting anything else. Once again, Sakura was dwarfed by the power.

"Here," Tsunade said, pointing at the unsettled ground, "This is done by building up and releasing the stored chakra with precise timing upon impact, making it effortless for the user to decimate any target. The trick you need to worry about is in letting it release in a controlled manner. When you expel the chakra through your fist, don't just let it go, send it out. You weren't directing it, that's why it went wild, and while it's impressive for you to be able to do what you can in so short a span a time, the way you are now makes you more of a threat to your allies than any help."

"And how do I do that?" Sakura asked, looking down at her hands. Tsunade shrugged her shoulders and stared off into the distance, her face one of not caring. 

"You should figure that out on your own. I gave you the theory, have fun practicing."

"Wait!" Sakura jumped over the rubble to get closer to the aloof blond, "That's not enough! I need to know more, to have more instruction. I can't do it without-ow!" The blond had reached out and flicked Sakura's forehead with her index and thumb fingers. It wasn't anything major, but it was enough to make Sakura stop. 

"Girl, who do you think showed me this when I invented it? Experience is the best teacher. Do what you can and join us for dinner when you're exhausted."

"I don't have time for that," Sakura hissed, rubbing the place on her head where she had been flicked, "I need to kill these beasts as quickly as possible so that I can move on."

Tsunade didn't look back as she walked away, but there was a little half wave tossed over her shoulder to compensate for the lack of acknowledgment.

"Fine," Sakura grumbled, feeling the corner of her lip break when she bit down on it, "Five days of waiting and this is all I have to show for it? Fine. Just one more tough break to deal with."

Sakura raised her arms and then brought them in, tucked and ready to jab. The chakra was there, growing, running, flowing. Sakura pulled on it and it came easily, flawlessly, effortlessly. It filled her arms and funneled down into her fists. She jumped, and into the air her body launched. She soared up, higher than any reality could let her reach, and turned, facing the earth. With her decent, she pulled her arm back and put everything into her fist.

_ The trick you need to worry about is in letting it release in a controlled manner. When you expel the chakra through your fist, don't just let it go, send it out. You weren't directing it, that's why it went wild _ .

'I'll show you wild,' Sakura snarled right before impact. There was air and wind and falling and then nothing. A breath before impact and Sakura felt it, the rush of chakra leaving her hand like water out of a cup. It flowed naturally on it's own, but Sakura knew better now. Instead of water from a cup, it came out like water from a faucet, pressurized and propelled.

' _ Wild _ .'

Unlike the last time, the earth shattered like glass under her fist, sending up huge slabs of earth all around her on every side in a perfect circle. The destruction was far reaching too. Her first attempt had been pathetic in comparison.

She landed without difficulty and straightened right away to turn and observe her handiwork. It was obliterating, but it wasn't directed in any particular direction. If Sakura was facing an enemy in front of her and used this attack, it would harm everyone around her, regardless of what side they were on. There still wasn't that level of control.

_ You weren't directing it, that's why it went wild. _

_ " _ Once more," Sakura said to herself, jumping away to find a new plot of land she could tear asunder.

It was dark by the time Kisame came to get her.

She was a sweating mess in the dirt, coughing and shaking with blood dried in the corner of her mouth from an overly abused lip. Both of her arms hung limp at her sides. It appeared to be too much effort to lift either when she fell to her knees and sank onto her bottom.

"What is it?" she breathed, the syllables riding out on individual breaths.

"I thought you didn't get tired." Kisame crouched down so she didn't have to lean back to look at him, but he still towered over her. "You look terrible."

"It's chakra…all of it. I don't know how, but that seems to have been the reason for my impressive endurance, and now I've used up most of it. It… most of it anyway, not all." Sakura hissed as something sparked in her chest, making her flinch inwards.

"Careful. Chakra exhaustion can make a person sick, and you're not used to being without all that chakra to begin with." Kisame hesitated, but then he reached over and felt her forehead, brushing aside the sticky strands that clung to her skin with sweat. "You're running a fever now, too."

"I don't like this. I couldn't even make it work." Sakura breathed out loudly and then fell over onto her side. "I hate it when I suck at something. I just wanna level up already."

She heard the breath of irritation but couldn't be bothered to turn her head and see the expression on Kisame's face when he spoke. Judging by his tone, he wasn't too annoyed with her, but the irritation was there. 

"You're being a bit melodramatic for one day of effort. I'd hate to see what you think of others if you call this sucking."

"But I'm supposed to be different," she breathed into the dirt.

Her head hurt and she didn't care if she sounded full of herself. She meant what she said. This was her dream, this was her curse, this was her world. Things were supposed to be easier for the dreamer than the actors. The whole reason this world existed was for her. It was built out of her memories and her subconscious desires.

Where was Sai and Kimimaro? She missed Sai, and wanted to see Kimimaro. Why hadn't they come for her yet?

"You sound a little bit like an asshole." Kisame's voice was gruff. 

"Tired people are a little bit like assholes. Sorry." His breath was heavy when he exhaled. 

"Kids these days, think they have to have everything right away and that it should come easy. It won't. You have a lot of hard work ahead of you. It's amazing you've been able to grow as much as you have so quickly, but most people take years to master stuff like this. Tsunade's a bit of a loon to think you can get so much in just a month."

"She hasn't even tried teaching me medical stuff." He did that awkward almost shrug with his shoulders again. He nodded towards the upturned landscape. 

"It's called jutsu…it means 'the art of.' I teach kenjutsu, the art of the sword. Tsunade is teaching you a bit of tai and ninjutsu. It's martial arts and chakra manipulation." Sakura shook her head, closing her eyes. 

"I'm too tired for this. I don't care. It's…ugh, yeah I think I might be sick." Kisame backed away quickly, waving his arms. 

"In the bushes, in the bushes, get away from me!"

Sakura didn't vomit, but she did end up laughing at his antics. It only got worse for her when he wouldn't come back near her, even after she convinced him she was fine. Apparently he didn't like puking, even though he could stand the sight of blood.

Sakura's peals of laughter died out when she noticed the white hiding in the trees. She looked up and saw one of Tsunade's body guards. It was the one with the weasel mask. He didn't make any move to hide or leave her line of sight, even though Sakura knew Sickle knew she had spotted him.

"Kisame?" she calmly called.

The large blue man heard the change in her voice and turned, forgetting his antics from earlier. He followed her eyes to the tree line and saw the man as well. His expression darkened as he jumped forward to stand in front of Sakura. She wanted to protest, but she knew that in her state she was not fit to stand, much less fight.

Once Kisame was in front of Sakura, the man named Sickle jumped down from his branch and landed gracefully at the roots of his tree. He stood, watched them for a moment, and then started walking towards the pair of them. Kisame didn't tense, or fall into a defensive stance, but the way he stood in front of Sakura was unmistakably protective.

Sickle stopped in front of Kisame, eyed the large, blue man up and down, and then sidestepped around him to stand in front of Sakura. Kisame shifted, but didn't move. Sickle reached inside the vest of his jacket and drew out a black pouch. He pressed this into Sakura's hands, making sure she held it correctly, before stepping backwards and flickering out of sight, a blur of black headed back into the trees.

"Creepy little weasel," Kisame muttered, taking a step away from Sakura. He eyed the black thing in her hands. "What did he give to you? It doesn't smell, does it?" Sakura untied the knot and the ends of the cloth fell away to reveal three perfectly shaped onigiri all in a row. 

"Dinner."

"Ah, you missed it with all of your redecorating. I'm surprised anyone besides me noticed."

Sakura eyed the blue cloth poking out of the folds in Kisame's clothing and smiled coyly when she smelled the food hidden inside. Kisame tracked her line of sight and grunted when he saw what she was looking at. Muttering something that sounded like, 'spoiled brat,' he turned and stormed off the battlefield. He made it to the tree line before turning around and waving at her. 

"Oi, slow poke! Back to camp, I'm not carrying you if you pass out."

Sakura didn't have to wait another five days for Tsunade to give her a lesson. When she woke up in the dream world the next cycle, it was still dark and early morning. Everyone in the camp was asleep aside from Tsunade and one of her retainers. Sakura squinted into the darkness to see the details of the mask, but his face was turned away. She guessed it was Sickle, since Hound had silver hair that stood out, even in the dark.

Once Tsunade took notice of her she waved Sickle away and crossed the campsite to kneel down beside the younger girl. 

"Get up, we're going fishing."

Sakura didn't ask questions, but tugged on her cloth shoes and followed the older woman down to the river bend where Kisame and the others had been fishing for dinner last night. Tsunade waded right into the water and struck at something beneath the surface, pulling out a wiggling fish in one hand. Bringing it back to the bank, she climbed out of the water and set the fish down before making a thin incision with her finger down the fish's side.

"Breakfast?" Sakura asked, watching the fish slowly lose its life.

"Training," Tsunade corrected. "Heal it."

"Eh?" Sakura sputtered, "You just killed it! What do you want me to do about that?"

"Seal it up, heal it. It's a fish, not a human, so it should be easy, right?" Sakura sputtered, thinking about all the times she had tried healing herself after an injury. She always tried and it never worked. 

"I can't do something like that," she protested, kneeling down in front of the fish anyway. It flopped maybe once every thirty seconds now, but it looked nearly dead.

"Prove it to me then. You haven't even tried, brat. I wanna see what you think you can do or can't do." Tsunade sat down with her back to a tree and sagged a bit, ready to wait for what seemed like a long time. When Sakura didn't move, the blond raised a single brow and gave the younger a pointed look.

"Fine," Sakura huffed, bending down to hold her palms out above the dying fish. She felt her chakra and shivered a bit by how warm it was. She wanted to pour it into the wound and fix it, knit it back together, reattach the separated seams one molecule at a time. She imagined it becoming whole again. With her eyes closed, she could see the process and how it should go. Only when Tsunade made an excited sound did Sakura open her eyes again.

The fish was flapping on the ground, fully healed and bearing only a faint pink line down it's mostly gray body. Sakura squeaked and fell backwards as the fish flopped higher and higher, towards the river until it fell into the waters. When Sakura turned around to see Tsunade's expression, the older woman was grinning like a cat with its saucer of cream.

"I-I've never been able to do that before, and I've tried!" Sakura felt a little hot in the face and wanted the older woman to stop smiling. 

"Obviously. Healing humans is a lot more complicated than healing fish, and you only worked on a surface wound. There are other elements to medicine such as repairing damaged organs, sealing broken bones, extracting poisons, cleaning out pathways of circulation, and so on and so on. Flesh wounds are the easiest. Even if you didn't have perfect chakra control, some nin can do that much." Tsunade reached inside the folds of her robe and pulled out a small jug of sake she lifted to her lips. "But still…I should have known you would ace it on your first try. Having a prodigy for an apprentice isn't so bad after all."

Sakura bit her lip, tasting the old blood that was a testimony to her frustrations. Tsunade saw this but didn't mention it. Instead she just chuckled.

"Don't be frustrated, it doesn't suit you. You may only have a month with me, but that's long enough for the basics."

Sakura thought back to the Monarch Woods, where her blood saved dozens, and how her thoughts purified Nagato back in the Kingdom Of Man. If she could do that then, why couldn't she do more complex stuff now? Why was this all so frustrating?

"What do I do next?" Sakura asked, finally.

"Ah, next you should practice knitting back the flesh of carrying animals. I'll see what the boys can shoot down for lunch and we'll go on from there." Tsunade stood and turned back towards the camp. "But if you want to do something now, try healing that fish again, but this time keep your eyes open."

A minute later, Sakura was left on her own. Discarding her shoes and socks, she waded into the waters with the folds of her robes folded up and belted back. Her reflection in the water shivered as the current distorted the image. There were fish there, just beneath the surface, but she couldn't bring herself to reach for one. Instead, she thought of a small box cutter and grabbed it out of the air.

Fish were useless. Animals would be useless. She drew a line with her knife across the inside of her arm above the elbow. It was shallow and short and would be easy enough to hide or explain away if someone in the real world saw it. She dropped the box cutter into the water and it became foam on the surface. Using one hand full of chakra, Sakura closed her eyes and poured her warm chakra into the wound, imagining it closing. She would fix it, knit it back together, and reattach the separated seams one molecule at a time. She imagined it becoming whole again. With her mind's eye, she could see the process and how it should go, leaving behind nothing but a shiny pink line as evidence.

With her hand feeling hot, Sakura opened her eyes and saw her wound just as fresh as before, bleeding down her arm. Nothing about it had changed, nothing had healed or even lessened.

Cursing, Sakura reached out to wash the wound site with a cloth to stop the bleeding. Once it was clean she tied a bandage around it.

"Sai?" she called out, searching the riverbank. She felt like sinking to her knees and letting the river take her away. "Sai?" she called again. Her eyes felt heavy and even though the sun was coming up, she felt like going back to her covers and staying there.

When she opened her eyes again, there was a pair of sandals standing on the surface of the lake as if it was something solid to stand on. Sakura looked up and saw Sai staring down at her with a confused expression. 

"You called?" he asked innocently.

"Sai!" her voice was breathy as she jumped up to hug him tight around the waist. He grunted from the strength of the squeeze but didn't try to pull away.

"Sa-Sakura-chan, you called for me after so long, finally." Sakura let him go and fell back into the water. 

"Stupid. You never came! I didn't see you anywhere and you never tried talking to me. Where have you been all this time? It's been weeks since I saw you last." Sai reached down for her hand and pulled her up onto the river before leading her back to shore where they could both stand on the bank. 

"Forgive me. It is much harder for me to move around in this Kingdom, even more so than it had been when we were in the gate world. Sometimes I fall asleep, and when I wake, days have passed. If I didn't hear your voice, I'm not sure when we would have next seen each other. I… I should have come sooner. Are you well?" She took a step back to look him over. Sai was always pale, but now the bags under his eyes were more pronounced and tinted in purple like from a sickness. He seemed thinner too. 

"Sai, are you alright?" Sakura asked, feeling his face for a fever. "You don't look like yourself, and you're being extra nice to me. Apologizing twice over? What have you done?" Sai shook his head and her hands fell away. 

"I am just tired. I am using more of an effort to stay here. You know this is not my kingdom and I shouldn't be here."

"I… yeah, but I didn't think it would hurt you like this. I'm sorry, it was a stupid request. I should have left it alone, then you wouldn't have to feel this way." He swayed a little, but Sai managed to stand in place and made an effort to shake his head. 

"No, if you had left me in the Kingdom of Man, I would not have a place here at all. For already that kingdom and gate have both passed away. Nothing exists of it anymore, and the actors have all been recast and resorted into new roles. I am not an actor. My fate would have been oblivion… so I am glad to suffer a little grief for this. I want to be alive."

"So… I can't go back to any of the worlds like I used to? When I was in the Kingdom of Man I could go back to the Marble Gardens."

"The Kingdom and the Gate of one side on the Obelisk are connected and essentially run together to be counted as one. When you are in a kingdom, it is always possible to return to the kingdom's gate, but never to another kingdom's gate or even a different kingdom. For example, if you wished, you could return to the Monarch Woods and the narrative there would be active enough so that there would have been time passed from when you left to now. However, if you wanted to go to the Marble Gardens because it's quiet, there would be no way for you to do so."

"Why would I want to go back?" Sakura asked, thinking back to the way she left things in the last gate. She was sure Kiba was suffering and poor Neji never got his dance. What about Hungry and the Tzar's son coming to the city? If the story kept going and time kept flowing in that world without her, she really didn't know what she would walk in on.

"Sometimes… It is a tactic best used to escape enemies in this kingdom. The Dream Killer, for example, can not follow you there. The dream killer is too, shall I say…  _ big _ to fit in such a world." She sighed. 

"This is confusing. I don't think I can keep all or even most of this straight. What happened to Kimmimaro, and do you even know who the dream killer is in this world? Is it still Snake Eyes?"

"The Dream Killer is a role, just like my own as the Sigh of Dejection. There is a new, different person to fulfill that role in every kingdom or every gate. In this world… I do not know who your dreaded enemy will be. Be vigilant. For all you know, it could be Kabuto again."

Sakura remembered the boy in glasses who stood up after being hit by Deidara in his car. The memory made the hairs on her arms stand up. He was a freak and she hoped to never have to meet him again. 

"I don't want to ever meet him again. How do I beat this kingdom as quickly as possible? Help me out here, Sai."

Sai didn't show a lot of expressions, but Sakura was sensitive to even the slightest changes in his eyes or on his face. She caught the tension in this jaw as he held back the frown before it could stretch his lips.

"What is it?" she asked, feeling dread.

"…Nothing of consequence. I know this is only your second kingdom, but this kingdom is very different from the first in the sense that it is much larger. Most men and women who fall prey to this curse don't make it much farther than the second world, and less still make it to the third world. You shouldn't treat this realm lightly. You may lose your life here."

"It doesn't seem much different from the Kingdom of Man, other than… like… the obvious things, like it being Japan and there being huge crabs and slugs I have to kill." Sai almost frowned again, but didn't.

"Do you remember in the beginning when I was first explaining the details of how the Obelisk's curse works… I mentioned that the worlds start to break down after several years of a dreamer inhabiting them. That was an intentional component of the curse, because it took the captives so long to get through each gate and kingdom. In a few months, not even half a year, you've managed to conquer a whole kingdom and two gates."

"But the first gate only took me one night and you were there to help me."

"True, the first gate is the shortest and the first kingdom is the easiest. From there on, it only gets harder. I don't want to discourage you, but this world might take you longer to conquer." Sakura felt something unpleasant settle under her skin. Her body felt like one big itch she couldn't scratch away. 

"And when you say longer you mean…?"

"Years."

"I don't have years to do this, though. I have a real life outside of this that I need to get back to working at. I've managed well so far, but…I'm an emotional mess when I hear do-wop songs now. I can't look at husky dogs anymore,even though they've always been my favorite. I'm having trouble connecting with my friends past a certain degree, even though I hide it very well. I won't be able to hide how messed up I really am for years. I… I was hoping by the end of the semester or even the school term if it came to that."

Sakura thought back to how she caught herself wandering in her thoughts during the day. How she took walks out to the old orchard to eat apples and think about what it felt like to kiss a dead man. She wasn't a wreck like she could have been, but the damage was still there, simmering beneath the surface. At a moment's notice, Sakura didn't know if she was going to break down and cry over it all.

"Sakura." The said girl looked up, and saw that Sai's eyes were hard and focused on her. "Please don't focus on the time it takes you. If you rush, you  _ will _ die. You have to take your time and carefully tackle only what you can, not more. This is your life you are playing with, and anything less than your very best will not bode well for you in the morning. I… no one wants you to be injured here, much less die from this world, so please don't try to rush through it all."

Where would she be in a couple of years? Would she be finished with her degree? Would she be working, or in debt and working? Would she still have friends? What about new friends? What about a boyfriend? Oh forget boyfriend, that wasn't happening any time soon.

What about boys in this world? Lots of them were hot and attracted to her because she was the dreamer and the whole reason they were even awake, and yeah, some of them were tempting to think about as potential whatevers… but they were all dead souls captured by the Obelisk curse. They weren't real, but she was making them feel real things and she was feeling real things for them. What was she supposed to do about that? In addition to risking her life every night, what about her sanity?

"Sai just make it stop." She dropped her chin at the top of her head dipped to bump his chest. "I don't want this to keep going."

"You have to."

"This sucks." She felt him touch her face, so she looked up. He wasn't smiling, but she saw the ghost of a smile in his eyes and knew that was what he felt. 

"You will beat this. You're exceptional, in more than one way. I've never met a person I believed in more. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here." There was a twitch in his eyelashes, ever so subtle, she nearly missed it. "I don't know how, but I promise I'll follow you as far as you can go, and I'll help you reach the last point of this curse." A thought scared her like ice in her heart. 

"You… won't I be able to take you to the next world with me like last time?" 

"I shouldn't even be here now. Kimimaro is the intermediate for this face on the Obelisk. By all rights, I should have faded away by now. Only your will preserved me this far." Sakura remembered the white haired boy who took her hand so timidly on the top of a church roof. 

"I'll take both of you anywhere if I can, and I'll find a way too. It's a promise, I won't leave without you." Sai smiled this time, and it was a real smile, on that stretched his lips honestly. 

"It's a promise then."

Sakura felt light when his pinky wrapped around her own. It was childish, and she wasn't sure how much this meant to her, but it made her feel right.

But it was a moment in time, and time never stands still. He looked up suddenly, as if startled and then started to dissipate, the edges of his body breaking down into smoke. 

"Someone's coming for you."

Sakura turned to look over her shoulder and see who it was, but when she didn't see anyone, she turned back to say something more to Sai, only to find him gone. He was like a vapor in the wind; one moment there, and the next, no one remembers it's existence.

Sakura turned back towards the tree to look again, and caught sight of white hidden between two trunks, trying to blend in. Sakura had a feeling if Sickle wanted to stay hidden, that was still very possible for someone as skilled as him. When his mask caught sight of her watching, he stepped out into plain view, and started walking towards her.

Before he could reach her, she began pulling something out of the sleeves of her haori. In her hand she held the black, handkerchief he had used to wrap up her dinner in. It was washed and neatly folded atop her palm, pinned down with her thumb. He stopped when he was close enough to reach out and take it, but he didn't.

He watched her in silence for a moment before moving, and Sakura kept her voice to herself in turn, waiting for him to offer words of explanation as to his visit. Still hidden behind his mask, he hesitantly took the cloth back from her hands, and then quickly replaced it with a small scroll he had been hiding behind his back in a satchel for such ninja gear.

"From Tsunade," he said, and his voice was young, but polished and polite. He didn't sound younger than her, but there was something to his voice that sounded un-aged about it. There was no trace of a childhood in it.

"Why?" Sakura asked, breaking the seal and unrolling the scroll. There were drawings of different animals inside frames of text and around each there were unrecognizable makings that looked similar to kanji. "What do I do with this?"

"It's a summoning scroll. You are to practice healing the corpses summoned in order to improve. To summon a corpse, the seal must be paid in blood. Prick your finger and smear that across the image to complete the summon."

Sakura bit down hard on her thumb, breaking skin and drawing blood. It was something she was proud about doing, since in the waking world, her friends would all say she was super metal to be able to bleed on command like that, but here, it was nothing, so she smeared the blood across the picture of the rooster without another word. The moment her blood touched the page she felt a suck and tug on her chakra, like the scroll was eating it up. There was a pop and explosion of smoke, before a weight caused Sakura to drop the smoking scroll. Once the cloud passed, she looked down to see a dead rooster with its side slashed open. Tsunade's message was clear. 'Heal this.'

Sakura looked up with her expression in check, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from scowling. Sickle had no expression to gauge. He still wore his mask all the time, making it a challenge to read. He inclined his head, almost nodding towards Sakura, before turning and taking a step away. He stopped, turned on his heel, and then walked back to press something new into her hand.

"Not from Tsunade," he said, before he was gone.

Sakura looked down and saw another cloth bundle with rice poking out. She inhaled and smelled the heavy scent of rice buns with a meat center. It was breakfast.

It seemed like such a long time, but before Sakura knew it, the world out the waking was frosted over and drowned in white ice and Christmas carols. She had never been more grateful to avoid a part time career in retail. Most New Yorkers were hard enough to deal with on their own. New York shoppers during the holidays were a whole new breed of people.

Sakura had one of the windows on the second story opened, and dangled one leg over the sill while the other was folded underneath her. She snuggled deeper into her heavy cable knit sweater, inhaling the freshness of the almost winter world. In her hands rested a fat green mug of piping hot apple cider.

"How the fuck are you not freezing?" Karin hissed, coming into the room with a heavier coat and scarf wrapped around her neck. The red head cursed a few more times before approaching the window where Sakura dangled.

"I'm cold, but it doesn't bother me as much. I've always loved the cold…and besides, I have a warm drink."

"It's almost fucking December, you little shit," Karin hissed, pressing her shivering body against Sakura's, "Close the window and come inside."

Sakura knew better than to ignore Karin when she dropped an F bomb every sentence. The red head didn't have much patience left. Ami was taking more and more trips overseas with her dad, and Karin was using it as an excuse to come over and hang out more and more.

"You could just move to a warmer room, like downstairs next to the stove. I told you this place didn't have good heating, you shouldn't have bothered coming over if you were just going to complain about the cold." Karin glared at her friend. 

"Shut up, just be grateful I want to hang out with you at all."

Sakura chuckled, folding and unfolding her legs so that they dangled into the room again. She slipped off the sill and turned to pull the window down. The cold became cut off, but the chill still lingered, so Karin scampered downstairs towards the kitchen. Karin was waiting for her when Sakura sauntered in. The red head scowled and Sakura had to laugh at the expression. 

"What?"

"You're showing off or something. You're like, all leggy now and you walk differently. Have you been training or working out or something? It's annoying, whatever it is, knock it off."

"I train habitually with a blue skinned, shark faced swords master and a drunk princess who can crack the earth in two. Duh, of course my booty's going to look great." Karin just rolled her eyes, obviously not believing Sakura's story. 

"Drama whore." Sakura shrugged, not offended by the language. 

"You're the one who invited me to Christmas dinner. Don't act like you don't care about me." Karin stuck a candy cane between her lips and sucked. When she removed the red and pink stick, it made a pop sound on her lips. 

"Just don't bail or disappear on us. I don't want to be left with my relatives all on my own."

"I won't," Sakura hummed, stirring the cinnamon stick in her hot cider.

"Yeah, that's what you say now. Just see that you stick to it, bitch."

Sakura nodded, but her attention instantly snapped to the buzzing of her phone. She swiped the screen to unlock it and looked at something real quick before setting it down again with a sigh. Karin made a face.

"Were you waiting for something?"

"Test results. In addition to finals, I'm applying for a few more scholarships and some of them wanted test scores in order to qualify. I took a drug history assessment at the CDC clinic last week and I'm waiting for my results. If I scored high enough, I am eligible for one thousand dollars in scholarship. That would help me out a bunch." Karin shrugged, looking out the window and away from Sakura. There was a crease between her eyebrows. 

"A thousand dollars would help out anyone. College is crazy expensive. I don't know how you manage it, or why."

"Yeah, but I really want this," Sakura whispered, "I mean, at least this much. I don't think med school is an option anymore, but this gets me close."

When she had been younger, her dream had been to grow up and be a female doctor. In high school, it was to become a nurse. In college, she just wanted to be a pharmacist. A little bit of her dream died with each new stage of life. Adulthood and reality weighed her down.

"When do you think you'll get your test results? I thought those took weeks."

"Normally, yeah. This test was not as big of a deal, though. That… and it was all multiple choice aside from one essay question. That shouldn't take them too long to grade."

Karin muttered something more under her breath before finishing her own drink and then getting up to pour herself a fresh cup of coffee. Sakura waited at the table, scrolling through tumblr pages until another email popped up. She swiped to open as soon as she saw it and her heart hammered when she saw it was from the testing agency. It took her to their website, and she typed in her log in with trembling thumbs while Karin added a handful of the pastel marshmallows that had gone stale in Sakura's pantry. Karin was complaining about something, (probably the marshmallows) but Sakura didn't hear her. Karin, not being one who enjoyed being ignored by her best friend, walked over and shook Sakura roughly. 

"Oi, earth to Sakura, what are you doing dozing off? Didn't you hear me?" Sakura quickly turned off her phone and flipped it over, face down. She stretched out a smile and faced her friend with a waiting expression. 

"What?"

"I was going to ask you if you wanted to go shopping with me later on in the week. I have a shift tonight, but dad said he was going to give me some time to buy presents. You haven't done all your shopping yet, have you?"

"I should actually see if I can pick up any more work with the Visiting Angels. Some of the clients get extra needy this time of year, and it would be good if I could… if I could pick up some extra hours before they… go away." Her voice almost wobbled, and her eyes started to turn red in the corners. She tried to laugh it away. "Sorry, it's just that my head hurts all of a sudden. It's stupid."

Karin frowned. It seemed like Karin was always frowning, but this frown was deeper than the others. There was also a knowing glint in her eyes as she watched Sakura try to swallow. 

"If you don't know what to get people don't sweat it. You can just make me cookies. I'll take it. I'll be happy with anything you get me."

The red head swallowed before glancing down at her mug. Hesitantly, she reached down and hugged Sakura with her free arm, dragging Sakura forward into the embrace. The older girl made a sound that might have been in protest, but Karin hissed a 'shut up,' putting an end to potential complaints.

"Sakura, you're the smartest person I know. You're also the strongest person I know."

Sakura had her green eyes screwed shut, but that didn't stop the wetness from seeping out onto Karin's shoulder. Silently, Sakura nodded, and deflated into the hug, accepting it as best she could.

She still felt terrible when she woke up in the dream world. She had failed the test by two points and the scholarship she had been so confident about securing was now outside her reach. With one avenue burned off completely, she was scrambling to make ends meet. Waking up to Tsunade throwing the summoning scroll at her face and shouting about ape tissue wasn't what Sakura needed.

It was early morning, and the campsite was stirring. Sakura peered over and saw that Kisame was still asleep under his straw hat, and Hound was laid out under a tree while Sickle stood watch. They slept in shifts most of the time, and Hound stayed up first last night.

Tsunade was saying something but it wasn't making sense to Sakura as she pushed back the covers of her sleeping sheet and folded her legs underneath her. She took a breath to calm her heart, but couldn't swallow the hurt she had carried over from her failed test in the waking world. In the background, Tsunade kept on rambling. By this point Sakura guessed the older blond woman was getting annoyed with the lack of response from Sakura, but she didn't care.

"That's enough."

Tsunade's ramblings stopped, and when Sakura looked up through her lashes, the blond woman was frozen mid step looking stunned. When was the last time someone told her off?

"Excuse me?" she enunciated. Sickle was awake and stirred Hound into waking. Sakura stood, rising to her feet in one tired, weighted motion.

"I said, that's enough. I'm not doing anything today for you. I won't waste my time."

"And why do you think you get to do that?" Tsunade asked, her eyes narrowed into slits. Hound and Sickle were tense behind her, now both fully awake.

"Because I want to. I'm taking time off for myself. I have that much right, especially when I've done everything you've asked of me. Never mind I still can't heal my own paper cuts." Sakura started to take a step away but the sound of metal stopped her. Glancing back over her shoulders she saw the blond holding out a kunai.

"You think you're good enough to walk away from me without a scratch?"

"You're not going to get anywhere with that," Sakura said, not taking a step in spite of her nonchalant attitude. Tsunade smirked, but it was a bitter stretch of her lips. 

"Take a step, sweetheart, I dare you."

Sakura drew her katana out of thin air and took a step all at once, drawing out her blade just enough to deflect the projected metal and counter with a swooping arch that kept the older woman at bay. Hound and sickle tensed, preparing to leap in and assist, but a scale covered sword, longer than either of their bodies, arched out in front of them, blocking the path. 

"Don't bother, boys. You touch her, I kill you." Kisame leered darkly at the both of them, promising blood. 

Tsunade was fast, but she was older than Sakura and that gave the younger girl an edge. It was a sliver of an edge, and one that wouldn't have been there at the beginning of her time in the Kingdom of Beasts, but Sakura was faster than ever before in her dreams. Her body was a blur that couldn't be pinned down. All those days and weeks and months of training made Sakura into something stronger, something upgraded. She was on a whole new level.

"You're not allowed to quit here, not when you've come this far," Tsunade snarled, throwing a punch Sakura dodged with ease.

"As if I could!" Sakura roared. She swung her blade and a huge wave of wind leapt from the blade sending Tsunade backwards. "There is no end to any of this! I'll never get to leave, never!"

And though it was something she should have never done, Sakura channeled more of her chakra into her sword and brought the butt end of her hilt down to strike the earth, releasing chakra at the last second in a controlled, directed burst that cracked the earth in two. Tsunade countered by striking the ground around her and standing up a slab of stone to protect her. Sakura roared and struck the stone with her sword, slicing it in half. By the time it fell apart, the space was empty and Tsunade was gone.

"Behind you."

Sakura was fast to dodge the hit, but not fast enough to escape the destruction of the mighty woman's fist on the earth. Sakura screamed, turning over in the air before recovering and landing in a tree. She raised her sword, ready to strike again, but froze when she saw Tsuande's pale white face.

The earth trembled again, but not from either woman. Sakura glanced over her shoulder and saw the white, slick body of the six tailed slug.

"Sakura!" Tsunade screamed. The pink haired woman leapt and missed a descending tail just in time. She landed within an arm's reach of the older woman. Tsunade looked stricken. "Save it for later?"

"Fine, I needed something to wail on," Sakura grit out, taking a stance.

The slug was a gigantic mass of white was covered in a secreted mixture of what looked like goo. Instead of a body that ended in a single tail, the six tailed slug, Saiken had a pinwheel of tails on its back. In its head, Sakura saw a diamond marking that blocked out the star shaped shadow of a body.

When it roared, the earth trembled.

Sakura didn't waste time and took off first, ready to slice it down before her fear could manifest. She was too pissed off to be scared right now, especially of a giant slug. Elephant sized wolves were one thing, slugs were a whole other ball game. With a grunt she swung her sword and a blade of wind followed.

It landed, and the slash tore off the side of the slug's body, making it cry out in agony. Sakura drew closer, but then was sidelined by Tsunade just in time to avoid being hit by a wad of spit that sizzled like acid when it hit the ground and ate through the rock. Before either girl could recover, Saiken bloated up and then deflated, secreting a white green cloud of poison around itself.

"Don't touch, it'll burn you," Tsunade warned. Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes at how obvious it was.

A weight landed behind her, and Sakura turned to see Sickle on their tree branch. A ways back stood Hound, sword at the ready. Below them landed Kisame, sword out and already dirty.

"It doesn't look too bad," the blue man grunted.

"It's highly poisonous. Get close and you're dead. I developed an antidote to its older poisons, but it's evolved, and now I'm practically useless. We'll need to rely on long range." Tsunade pulled out another pair of Kuni between her fingers. "Try to get height before launching projectiles. The fog eats anything that enters into it."

"What about disturbing it's footing?" Kisame asked in a grunt. "Use that strength of yours to take it out."

"Saiken can separate into six separate bodies and then attack us independently in such a scenario. I've tried it, it always goes worse for us that way." 

Kisame looked sullen. 

"No wonder you needed help. Is there anything you can do aside from throw a few knives?"

"Watch your tongue if you don't want it rolled up as sushi, fish face," she snapped. Sakura swung her sword out and looked down at the blade. 

"I can cut through the fog. Maybe it will be enough for a direct hit."

"It will be enough to get our own attacks in, at least," hound said, looking to Tsunade and then Sickle.

Sakura didn't wait for a confirmation. She jumped from her tree branch and leapt into the sky. She poured her chakra into her blade and heaved her arms up to channel the power. She started to fall fast, and just before she fell into the fog, she brought her blade down, cutting the air like a knife and slicing through the poison cloud. A wad of spit just barely missed her when she landed, but some of the after spray hit the side of her leg and she cried out in pain. She could hear her skin being eaten away.

She didn't think she was dizzy, but a new set of arms wrapped around her middle section and dragged her back. Looking up at the slug, she could see it bleeding heavily from it's side, and panting from the pain. The shadow in it's skull seemed so much darker.

"Sickle?" she guessed before turning around to see his masked face. He felt warm and his scent was one of forest and wood. It was enough to inhale blissfully, but she didn't dare in the moment.

He touched her leg and she flinched. It was bleeding in spots and looked like someone went wild with an acidic pepper shaker on her leg. Kisame was running towards her while Hound drew it's attention elsewhere, avoiding acid spit better than Sakura.

"Once more, Sakura!" Tsunade roared, kicking up stone that shielded her from more of the spit.

"She's fucking hurt, bitch," Kisame roared, reaching her and crouching down over her so she was swallowed up in his shadow. Absently, Sakura marveled at how different Kisame was now in comparison to when they first met. He had pushed Sickle away and was pulling Sakura towards him with his free arm.

"It's fine," Sakura lied, believing it as she forced herself to stand. It hurt like hell but she didn't bother to truly feel it. She wasn't pissed anymore, but she desperately clung to her old anger, hanging onto it to help numb the pain. "I can do it once more." She looked up at Kisame. "Help me." 

The blue man made a face. "I can't expel pure chakra like you can, but you got it. I'll see what I got."

Hound cried out, getting hit in the shoulder, and that spurred Sakura on. She ran out, closer to the fog, and shot her blade full of roaring chakra. Beside her, she could feel Kisame's chakra as well. When she swung, there was an arch of wind that cut through the fog, followed by a edged wave of water that was strong enough to topple the slug and give Tsunade the opening to hurtle a jagged boulder straight into its head, severing the face from the neck. Sakura watched in awe as the face fell and Tsunade roared for 'once more' over the poison cloud that was closing in on her.

Once more, Sakura filled her blade with whatever was in her, gasping at how empty she was starting to feel, and swung an arch at the star shaped shadow on the slug's severed head.

It was only a moment, but for the briefest breath of time, Sakura saw through the smoke to the body of the boy climbing out of the slime. He had black hair, chin length and straightened with a healthy shine. She couldn't tell what color his eyes were, but she knew they were wide and full of white before her blade of chakra tore his body in two.

Sakura turned and retched onto the rubbled beside her, feeling like she had just been separated at the torso. The bile that came up stung her worse than the acid on her leg.

_ Utakata. _

"You did it," Kisame quietly said behind her, not touching her as she dry heaved over the stone, but waiting till she finished. It was better than running off like he planned to do the last time she felt partly sick.

"There was someone in there." She gasped, feeling her body spasm. "A person!" Kisame was quiet for a while, and when he spoke his voice was not as gruff as it could have been.

"That's what the tailed beasts are. They take human hosts to control and manipulate. They… the boy wasn't… you couldn't save him. There was nothing left to save. They're hosts… are empty."

Tsunade was crouched down in front of Hound, healing his injuries, but Sickle stood back, watching her, waiting for Kisame to move. There was a little blood on his hand from stray spray.

"Sakura," Tsunade barked. "Come here and heal the rest." Something burning inside her flared up again and Sakura looked up to glare at the older, blond woman.

"Like hell I'll do anything for you!" Her stomach kicked again but she had nothing left to give. The bile on her teeth was like acid in her nostrils.

She had just killed a person. A real person. A person with a name and a face and a life and family. He was a person she had never seen before, but he was a person as real as Sasori… and she had killed him. Not even Orochimaru, who she hated with everything in her, was someone she wanted dead. She hadn't been able to kill him with all that hate, but the boy called Utakata was dead because of her.

She killed a person. She killed a person. She killed a person. She killed a person. Holy shit, she just killed a person. She killed a person. She killed a person. She killed a person. She killed a person. She fucking just killed a person and it doesn't matter that this is a dream or that he wasn't even alive to begin with, she killed a person.

"Sakura!" she was shaken harshly by Tsunade and when she opened her eyes again the woman was hovering over her. Apparently Sakura had fallen backwards and started to shake. It must have looked like a seizure, but she was just in shock. Sakura's eyes couldn't focus, making the older woman frown. "You're going to have to carry her back. She's out of it and completely useless to me as is. Sickle, support Hound, we need to make it to an inn for tonight.

Sakura felt numb as Kisame lifted her into his arms and folded her up like a doll against his chest. It was a solid surface for Sakura to lay her head against, and with her ear pressed against his breast she could hear his heart thrum with every beat. The rhythm felt like a mantra to her.

She killed a person. She killed a person. She killed a person. She killed a person. Holy shit, she just killed a person. She  **killed** a person. __

_ She killed a person. _

There were poppies in her vision for the rest of the dream.


	6. KOB 3

**Kingdom of Beasts**

**Part 3**

* * *

"I wake up and the anger has been waiting for me, has been bleeding into my mouth, caustic and vile, rotting my teeth to points."   
— Emily Palermo

* * *

Sakura woke up, went through the motions, went to school, attended lectures, filled out homework packets, took the train home, and climbed back into bed. Through all of it, not once did she feel awake.

She climbed under the covers extra early, ignoring the buzzing of her phone or the lights from incoming text messages.

When she opened her eyes again, she was back indoors. They had made it to an inn, it seems, and someone had changed her clothes again. She was clean again. Blinking, she rolled over and looked to the corner where she saw Kisame reclining, his back to the wall and his sword propped up between his bowed legs. His eyes were shut and light snores drifted out through the gills on his neck instead of through his nose, like she expected them too.

Sakura stood, and the fabric of her covers fell around her ankles in a pool of wrinkles. Glancing down, she saw her leg was bandaged, but even with it wrapped up, she could see the stains from where blood welled underneath the wrappings. She had almost forgotten she had been hurt. It wasn't much, only enough to case ugly bruising and a little scabbing in the real world. Any other day she might have freaked out about it, but there was something in her soul that was so off that things like leg pain belonged to other people.

Her toes and the bottoms of her feet were naked against the hardwood as she crossed the room to where a sliding screen led outside. It was very much like the first inn they stayed at, a large suite with many adjacent rooms. This inn was much closer to Mizu, however. When Sakura breathed, the sea rushed into her lungs, and she could taste salt in the air. They were close to the waters of the Mizu sea.

"He had been heading home," Sakura said aloud, remembering a detail about the boy she killed. He had been from Mizu originally, before being taken over. Somehow he remembered home enough to miss it and make the effort to travel back. Even as a mindless host, he still seemed to think and feel.

"You're up."

Sakura turned to face the voice and a second screen door slid open. Inside, Tsunade crouched in front of the door, opening it traditionally. Behind her on a mat of bamboo and light cotton, rested Hound. His head was turned to the side, but his face was partially uncovered. A black mask obscured the bottom half of his face, but his dog mask was gone. There was a heavy sheen of sweat on the patches of exposed skin, and he seemed to be breathing heavily.

"Is he going to be okay?" Sakura asked, feeling more guilt sting her heart.

"He needs to work the poison out of his body. Oddly enough, what you got hit with didn't seem to slow you down aside from the actual burn. Your body took over the toxin and eradicated it on it's own before I could do anything. That's an impressive immune system you have there. You've been asleep for almost two days now."

"I didn't heal myself, if that's what you're getting at. Most poisons don't have much of an effect on me, I've taken so many vaccines against them. I was just lucky this time."

"Maybe." Tsunade closed the door behind her and crossed the room to a low table where a bottle of sake rested, as if waiting for her. She drank without pause. When she set the jug down her eyes were more tired and her voice less firm. "I knew you didn't heal yourself. Even before you said anything, I knew."

"How did you know." Sakura felt her eyes narrow. 

"Simple: you can't."

"I could have told you that much already," Sakura grumbled, padding over and sitting down across from the woman who seemed less biting and bitchy.

"That's not what I mean. You can heal anything I give you, meat, flesh, ape, chicken, pig, and even human, but it can't be your own flesh you knit back together. It can't be your own bones you fuse back into place. Anyone else's and you could probably do it, but never for yourself." She took another long pull of Sake and then set the jug aside before reaching for a knife inside the folds of her robe. Sakura held her breath hostage as Tsunade slashed her arm and then held the bleeding cut out. "Heal it."

"I can't, I-" A look from the older woman rendered Sakura silent.

Biting her lip, she pulled on the green energy inside of her, and let it flow out of her hands and into the cells of Tsunade's arm. Just like when she worked with the ape and pig wounds, Tsunade's cells began to respond and knit themselves back together. When Sakura drew her hands back, the blond woman's arm was completely healed.

With wide eyes, sakura tugged at her bandages and peeled them back far enough to see her burns. With her chakra humming in her hands, she stimulated the burn site and poured her energy into the wound. She let it flow out, visualizing the knitting process. She saw her skin returning to normal, pink and fresh as a peach peel. When she opened her eyes again, her burns were still there, stinging from the air.

"I don't get it. I've never been able to heal myself. Your wounds should be impossible for me if I can't do my own self!" Tsunade said nothing at first, only sipped her sake. 

"I was afraid of this," she said at last. Sakura glared and the older woman sighed, setting her drink down. "It's nothing to do with your technique, you're doing a fine job. You can heal as well as anyone else and better than most with your perfect chakra control, but there's something wrong with your head." She took another pull of Sake. "You don't think you deserve healing."

" _ Bullshit _ ." Sakura felt her insides turn. "That doesn't make any sense. No one wants to see me healed more than me. I hate being in pain."

"But you think you deserve it."

"That's stupid, no I don't," she choked, feeling her face turn hot. Tsunade was meeting her eyes without flinching, and the unwavering stare made everything else in the room spin. "I don't… I've done nothing worse than… I don't deserve it." Tsuande's exhale was a breath full of judgment. 

"You're lying to yourself even now." Tsunade didn't touch the sake. "I've never seen it myself, but when people live through trauma, it leaves scars and debilitates them almost worse than a physical handicap. A man once lost his ability to self heal after he failed to reach his home village in time to prevent an outbreak of plague. There was nothing he could do, given the circumstances, but his guilt manifested into a block that kept him from healing himself and only himself. He was a famous doctor aside from that, but the story still stands as a single credited case."

"What have I done or what's happened to me that's been so bad, that it’s kept me from being able to heal all this time? The boy Utakata's death was only yesterday. This has been going on longer than that."

"I can't answer that for you, and I can't convince you that you're worthy of being healed. Only you can do that. I have no power over you." Tsunade's hand reached for the jug, but stopped before her fingers could touch it's exterior. "But I'm sorry. It's not fair, and you don't deserve it. Your pain is real enough, and I'm sorry I added to it."

When Sakura looked up, enough time had passed for Tsunade to leave the room without a trace of her visit. The room echoed with silence, but Sakura felt a presence behind her back. Knowing who was still sleeping and who was still lying down sick, she guessed that the only one who could make her hair stand up on the back of her neck was the man called Sickle.

Sakura stood up on her own without looking back and turned towards her room, heading there with her legs like weights in the water. She padded across the floor and slid back the rice door to the room she had been sleeping in. Kisame was still propped up against the wall with his oversized sword leaning against him. She could see the discoloration and wounds his body took from the fight. There were cuts and bruises littering his skin.

Sighing, she kneeled down beside him and played with the chakra in her bones before channeling it out into her hands. The glowed green with a warm light and she pressed that warm light into his wounds. Instantly, his skin reacted and began to knit itself back together. Sakura moved her hands, and more and more of his body began to heal. The areas of flesh she hovered over showed up clean and clear of damage. Even the discoloration from his bruises seemed to fade.

Kisame grunted in his sleep before shifting and cracking open a single eye part way. He sighed again, and the gills on his neck expanded with the release of breath. She moved her hand over more of his damaged body, but he didn't move or acknowledge her presence. He sounded like he fell back asleep, as the snores returned.

A shadow stretched across the bamboo wood floor to settle beside Sakura. She didn't turn around to face Sickle when he spoke. 

"You're still exhausted. You should save your energy for yourself."

"Why, because I can't do this for myself?" she asked, her tone dry.

"I did not mean to overhear, but that makes no difference. Chakra exhaustion can be deadly when one does not know their own limits. Please rest." Sickle's voice was calm like velvet in her ears when he spoke to her. 

"He deserves to be fixed."

"So do you."

Sakura lowered her hands and let the chakra she had been holding onto snap back into the recesses of whatever depth it came from. She could feel less of it in her body, even though the fight had been so long ago. She had assumed her stores of chakra would have returned to normal, even with what little healing she did on Kisame.

"Why are you watching me?" Sakura sighed. Her hands felt numb, and she wondered if it was because of the chakra or because of the trauma. For a long while she just sat there, feeling the heat from the sun rising up her back as it climbed the sky.

"To see if you are well," he finally answered.

"Obviously I'm not, but there's nothing you can do about that, so it's not worth your time, I would think. Go back to Tsunade. She's the one you should be watching."

There was a shift in the shadow beside her, but Sakura never heard him move. His shadow had grown and when he spoke his voice was closer than before, just like his presence. He had never said so much to her before, or stayed at her side for so long. He was a shadow in the shade, just like Hound.

The sound of something hard, like a bowl scraping across the floor, and Sakura looked over to see the white and red painted mask of the Sickle Weasel face up on the floor beside her. She didn't move, even though if she turned around she would be able to see his face. When he spoke again his voice was cleaner, unmuffled, and possessing an element of familiarity.

"With the death of the six tailed slug, my obligations to the lady Tsuande are fulfilled. I am no longer in her service." His voice was clear and a ghost to her memories. Sakura had to squeeze her eyes.

"You're name," she whispered, her eyes still shut tight. "You have a true name now, don't you?"

"I do," he answered.

When Sakura looked up he spoke it.

" _ Uchiha Itachi _ ."

The first thought that fired across the receptors in her brain, oddly enough, was that this was just one more pile of shit she didn't need to deal with. It was one crazy reveal after another. As if killing someone for the first time wasn't enough, now she has to deal with the fact that Itachi Uchiha was sitting behind her in the Kingdom of Beasts when he should have been stuck in the Kingdom of Man. How was he here now, and did he remember anything of their time spent together as greasers?

Stiffly, Sakura turned her head to the side to glance over her shoulder and see the outline of his face. She narrowed her eyes and the lines of his face came into focus, erasing any doubt that she might be dealing with an impostor. The same handsome features that made him a gem among men still made up his face.

"Do you know me?" Sakura whispered, remembering him and Shisui in the dance hall when she fought Orochimaru. "Do you… remember me?" Itachi closed his eyes before answering, not daring to look at her when he spoke to her. 

"I've known you since Tsunade san took you in, but that is too short a time for memories. I like to think I know you well by now. I've watched over you enough for that."

"So, you don't remember seeing me or meeting me before Tsunade and I met?" Sakura asked again, seeking clarification.

"No." His tone seemed sorry, like there was something he should have been apologizing for.

A knot formed in her throat and she struggled to swallow it down as the memories came back.

_ "Don't judge us too harshly." Itachi intoned, meeting her eyes without shame. "We did what we thought was best for our family. Our clan comes first. The Morning Rovers were not a threat without Nagato." _

_ "Take your excuses and suck 'em, Itachi," Sakura breathed. "I don't give a damn. You betrayed us. You turned your back on all of us and spat on our friendship. We trusted you." She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to fight back the pain that was growing as her adrenaline wore off. "I don't want to ever see you again. I don't care if you come begging back to Pein, don't ever show your face in front of me." She paused to take another breath, because they were getting harder and heavier. _

"Sakura?" Itachi's voice went from apologetic to concerned. She felt his shadow move before she saw the shift on the floor of an outline of his arm reaching for her back. His fingers were a ghost over her shoulder and she flinched, jerking harshly to the side to avoid his touch. "Ah… You're shaking."

Sakura moved away, crawling onto her knees and scooting away from his shadow so that he couldn't touch her again. His hand made another reach for her, but this time there was a heavy thud as Kisame's broadsword came down between Itachi's hand and Sakura's crumpled frame.

"Oi," Kisame's voice was a scarred tone of gravel and grit. Low and menacing, he peered up from under the hood of his brows at Itachi. "What do you think you're doing here?" Sakura felt a weight and then a tug as Kisame pulled her closer with his free hand, not once letting his gaze waver or take his eyes off of where Itachi knelt. 

"He try something funny?" Kisame asked in a whisper to her.

"No, he just made me stop healing you."

"She needs rest," Itachi's tone was adamant, "She is not well and will exhaust herself further if she continues to push herself without any regard to her own limits."

Kisame's grunt of agreement sounded sore, but it was enough for Sakura to look up in surprise at the blue man.

"Kisame?"

"Fine, she'll take her time to rest, but that's no concern of yours. We did what we came to do. Tsunade's had her month with Sakura and the six tailed slug is dead. You have no other business with us, so you should leave, Sickle."

Itachi reached for his mask quickly, putting it back over his face and hiding his features from Kisame, even though it was too late to truly hide anything. 

"I am no longer a retainer of the slug princess." Itachi's voice was muffled again. "You need not think of me in such a way. I am my own."

"Ronin are just as dangerous. Leave us be. Sakura and I are heading back to Mist today. It's been long enough since we've been away." When Kisame shifted his sword scraped across the floor and made a distracting sound that reminded the other male in the room of it's deadly existence. "You should go now."

Itachi's masked face turned towards Sakura's, but then dipped as if in apology. He backed out of the room and slid the door shut behind him.

"Kid," Kisame grunted, deflating a bit from the pain he hid well. "What are you doing up? You're as white as the moon and cold as the dead. You're not better, so fix yourself before you look at me. Kami knows I've faced worse."

"I can't," Sakura whispered. When Kisame made a face Sakura went on to describe the conversation she and Tsunade had earlier about her healing abilities. He asked a few questions, about why, about her past, but Sakura didn't have answers for him.

"Fine," Kisame finally sighed, shifting his sword to the side, "I don't care. You'll stay with me and you won't have to worry about something like that. I told you I was looking out for you and I meant it. Get up, we're telling the old bag goodbye."

"You're still sore," Sakura protested, watching as the blue man rose with the help of his sword, using it to pull himself up like a cane, "And hurt…"

"It's bruises, nothing worse worrying about. I've lived through worse." To illustrate, Kisame pulled back the folds of his yukata and showed off the pale white blue scars that made a pair of spirals on his pectorals. When Sakura winced he chuckled, enjoying the face she made. "Don't look so surprised, kid. You have your own set, don't you?" Sakura felt her cheeks go red. 

"How did you know that!"

"I didn't," he laughed, "But now I do. What was it, what were they aiming for?"

"As if I would tell  _ you _ ." Sakura folded her arms across her chest, standing up to follow him out. 

Kisame pulled back the screen and saw Tsunade sitting down in front of a low table piled with food. Across from her sat Itachi. He was still wearing his mask, but it was obvious he looked up when the pair walked out of the room. Tsunade didn't look up, but it was obvious she was addressing them when she spoke.

"I have some information you might find useful if you're still thinking about killing more than just that three tailed monster crab." She took a bite and chewed before continuing. "There is a group rising up calling themselves the Akatsuki that have hunted down the five tailed Kokuō horse. I don't know if they've managed to kill it, but they are warriors dedicated to the eradication of the tailed beasts. While you were sleeping we received a formal invitation. Interested?"

"That's information for another time," Sakura answered, feeling suddenly awkward standing before the older woman with the words of departure stale in her mouth. "Today there are more pressing matters awaiting me in Mizu."

"The virgin killer?" Tsunade laughed. "Yeah, I guess so. You shouldn't have too much trouble with it if you were able to face the six tails. Just don't drown."

The blond woman tossed something into the air in front of Sakura's face and she reacted quickly enough to catch the small glass vial filled with white fluid. 

"What's this?"

"Acid from the slug. Think of it as a thank you gift from Utakata. He would have been grateful, much as you would hate to think it, that you killed him and ended his slavery to the slug. Beat yourself up over it if you want, but you don't deserve it." Sakura swallowed and clutched the vial in her fist. 

"We'll be going then."

"Get out of here, then. Don't stand around talking about leaving, just do it!"

Sakura hesitated, but a breath later she turned on her heel and exited the room. She heard Itachi stand, but didn't turn around to see it for herself. Kisame was at her side, pulling back the screens for her to walk through like a gentleman. They were outside on the street before she paused again. He didn't press her to move on, but slouched against the building's side, watching her.

"You're crying again." Sakura reached up to feel her face for tears, but her fingers came back dry. 

"No I'm not. What are you talking about?"

"Not with your eyes, kid," he sighed, tugging his hat down and turning down the street. "Mizu is this way… not far."

Sakura followed, but paused when she saw some of the people around them pausing to point and stare at something from behind them. Against her better judgement she glanced back and saw Itachi in the dirt, prostrating himself with his face to the earth, bowed as deeply as he could manage in her direction. She almost missed a step.

'Did you really not remember?' she thought about asking when she felt the tears from Sasori's death in her eyes again.

Itachi looked up, still wearing his mask, and Sakura turned sharply back to catch up with Kisame.

They didn't reach the house until the next day early in the morning, and Haku was the first to see them coming. The boy cried and ran to embrace the both of them, staying stuck to Sakura after Kisame threw him off. Zabuza came out to investigate, and behind him was the boy, Mangetsu. Kisame talked with both of them as Sakura and Haku took their time rejoining the main company.

Haku was an emotionally compromised boy with a throat full of apologies for her, asking her to forgive how rude and standoffish he had been to him when they left her behind with Tsunade. She told him there was nothing to forgive, but he didn't seem to believe her.

They talked the rest of the day about the six tailed slug, the fights, the training, the earth shattering chakra techniques, and the old woman's horrendous drinking habits. Sakura wanted to bad mouth the slug princess, but there was an unexpected warmth in her heart when she thought of Tsunade now. As harsh as she was, Sakura felt connected to the woman, some way, almost like she was taking a part of her with her.

"Why did they wear masks all the time?" Haku asked Sakura, stirring her from her thoughts. Kisame reached over the low table for their own homemade sushi rolls made up of messy rice and sea flavored fish shreds. 

"That's to keep their identity a secret for when they change owners. Nin for hire are just as dangerous as ronin. They do whatever they are told for whoever owns them until they are released from bondage. Then they need new masters, and when that happens, the new master can't know that their potential employee was once an enemy. Tricky, neh?" Sakura didn't have an appetite and she didn't feel like faking it, so she avoided the food. 

"I don't think Tsunade was going to let go of Hound or whatever his name was. Just It- just Sickle."

"You saw his face, though. Why did he do that? Did he want you to buy his services?" Kisame asked in a sullen tone. "Or did he just want to show off his pretty face?" Sakura faked a teasing smile. 

"You thought his face was pretty? I hadn't noticed."

Kisame sputtered and Haku laughed while Mangetsu and Zabuza looked on with hidden smiles. The blue man roared about how they were wrong and that he was just a bit more sensitive about vain men getting away with stuff because other people thought they looked a little nicer, that's all.

That's all that Sakura remembered before she woke up in the real world.

The shops were frantically pushing a holiday spirit through every register wreathed in garland and every sales associate dressed up as an elf. Sakura didn't mind it, but she remembered being more into the holiday mood last year by this time.

When she readjusted the ear pieces on her ear buds, the music came back in loud and clear. The sad strings of a violin quartet tempted her heart to cheer in the pop-ish melody, but she couldn't find the drive for it.

'When I go back to sleep tonight, we're going to talk about killing my second beast. With one already gone before the kingdom began and another potentially x'ed off the list, that means there are only six left of the original nine.'

Sakura tucked her feet in as a passenger on the train stood up to leave, climbing over her.

'I know what Sai said, but I think I can keep this pace up and be out of there before too many months pass. I won't be in that kingdom more than a year. It won't take me that long. I won't be stuck in there so long.'

Sakura drew her sword with her wrist, snapping it to attention like an added joint and leveling it with ease. Haku circled her, knees bent, form improved. While she had been away, he hadn't been wasting his time, it seemed. He struck first, but she countered, and soon they were twirling around one another, blades singing and grating with each passing and every meeting.

She exhaled and threw her body into the movement and he took advantage of it to strike at her back. She was just barely fast enough to avoid the blunt but of his sword knocking into her ribs. She countered and he caught her sword with his own. Push and pull, they were two equal forces struggling against each other, but Sakura had something Haku didn't. Before too long, Haku's endurance began to waver and Sakura snapped down on it like gravity, crushing him under her superior strength. Haku fell backwards, and Sakura closed the distance to straddle him with her sword at his throat. Both were breathing heavy when clapping interrupted their standoff. When Sakura looked up she saw Zabuza. 

"Good, but that was without chakra. I hope you aren't thinking of holding back when we face the three tails."

"It was something we agreed upon before the match began," Sakura said, stepping back and offering Haku a hand to help him up, "And it was mainly because I didn't want to fight against his Ice attacks. Maybe I'm fast, but I have no real defense in that sort of situation."

"And I didn't want to be obliterated," Haku chuckled, eyeing a distant crater in the earth from a past spar. Sakura smiled sheepishly before turning to look back at Zabuza. 

"Have you and Kisame decided on a good day to tempt fate with our monster?" Zabuza shook his head. 

"We're still working on training Mangetsu, and neither of us are comfortable with our current level to provoke the beast."

"We're running out of time, though," Sakura said.

"Maybe, but I don't want to overplay our hand. I'm in no hurry to die." He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced sideways at Haku who was still breathing heavily.

The budding anger fed by frustration and impatience dulled when she caught the meaningful look between master and apprentice. For some, there were fates worse than death. Having to survive a child or student wasn't an experience Sakura envied.

With a sigh and some half baked excuse for time alone, Sakura walked over to her towel and water bottle to wipe her face dry. She didn't need water, but her throat felt dry and drinking helped ease the roughness that was more annoying than painful.

She found Kisame watching Mangetsu train from a dark stretch of shade where the color of his skin was nearly indistinguishable. He eyed her and huffed in acknowledgment of her presence, but didn't get up or say anything.

"Have you heard anything more about that rouge ronin group that was hunting down the tailed beasts?" she asked, kneeling down beside him.

"Just rumors. It was confirmed, at least, that someone has hunted down the five tailed Kokuō horse and killed it. I don't know if it was them, but at least they're not taking credit for the slug we buried." His expression took on an edge of bitterness. "Though, it's not much better having the slug princess get virtually all the credit for it." Sakura waved the comment off, pretending it didn't bother her. 

"I don't care about that, let the people talk. I just wanted to know more about these Akatsuki people. Where did they come from, who are they, what do they want?" Kisame was watching her when he added on to her list of concerns. 

"Are they trustworthy, are they people you can work with?" Sakura shrugged. 

"I never made my intentions anything but clear. The tailed beasts need to be killed, and that is what I seek to do. If there are people who can help with that, all the better."

"Oh… Is that what we were to you, just people to help you kill a tailed beast?" Sakura didn't flinch.

"Yes… at first, that's what you were. When Zabuza tried to kill me that's what I thought you were, but I'd like to believe that we've at least grown into something more than that, I think of you guys as friends, not means to an end."

"But you'll still leave when this is over." She almost chuckled. 

"I'm not supposed to enjoy my life. I told you I was cursed, didn't I?"

"I don't believe you."

"Believe it." Kisame's lips were thin, having been pulled tight with a grim expression. 

"I believe life is what you make of it. If you think you're a cursed child, you are a cursed child. If you believe you are free, you are free. Likewise, if you believe you are strong and fearsome, that is what you are."

"What are you, Kisame?" Sakura paused before continuing. "What do you believe you are?"

The words hung between them, neither bothering to look away from the boy training and look at each other. It was a moment more before Kisame answered. 

"I'm tired."

For a while the pair sat in silence, content to watch as the younger swordsman trained his form to perfection. It was a nice cool day that smelled like the ocean even among the forest trees. Later there would be mist.

Before Mangetsu could complete his forms, Sakura stood and brushed the dirt and grass off her knees, making to go back. Kisame watched her out of the corner of his eye, making Sakura pause. Tilting her head to one side like a bird's, she grinned. 

"You should sit outside of the shade sometimes. I like it when I get to see your face."

He didn't say anything, and Sakura didn't wait for him to before walking off on her own.

On the way back, Sakura detoured and took a path closer to the water where there was still some mist. It was cold in the mist, like it was always cold. There didn't seem to be much of a season change in the dream world even though in the waking world there were already snow flurries and nights that dipped below freezing. Seasons seemed to be regional in the Kingdom of Beasts.

Sakura stopped suddenly, feeling something tug on the hairs of her spine, sending tingles all through her body. She turned, drawing her sword like it was an extension of her body. By now it was second nature, she didn't even have to think about it.

A figure emerged, barely distinguishable in the mist. Sakura could see that he was wearing traditional style clothes with long loose sleeves and a semi open front that left the upper part of his chest exposed for attack. His own sword was drawn, and when he stepped closer Sakura saw it was bone white…no, a sword made of bone. Her gasp caught in her throat as her eyes snapped up to search his face and find it familiar. 

"Kimimaro?" Another step and there was no doubt as the mist swirled around him.

"It is you!" Sakura gasped, reaching forward to pull him into a hug, forgetting about their swords. "You're finally here. Did you hear me calling for you?"

"You…called for…me?" he asked, his voice sounding distant and thin. He didn't hug her back.

Sakura let go and pulled away to see his face and found it paler than usual and somewhat sunken. His eyes were painted with red around the corners, but there was another layer of natural redness around his eyes.

"Kimimaro, are you well? You look sick."

"I was very sick when I died….I remember that now. When I was sacrificed to this curse, I was a burden upon my family." He reached for his chest and hand grasped the skin over his lungs. "Breathing…I couldn't breath. There was…water in my lungs when I died. I am sick here."

"Is there anything I can do?" Sakura asked, her hands already glowing green and reaching for his lungs in an effort to remove the liquid in his lungs.

"No," he pushed her hands away. "This is how I am cursed to be. This is how I was. This is how I… am." Sakura felt her own lungs hurt at the sound of his voice.

"I'm so sorry. I wish I could save you from that." The pale boy with heavy lungs wouldn't meet her eyes. His shoulders hung heavy on his body. 

"You shouldn't waste such wishes on my sake. You have made many mistakes." He looked up and in his eyes, Sakura saw conflict. "I did something for you that I should not have, but it is a parting gift. The men who are of the Akatsuki are your allies. They have been assembled before their time in order to aid you in your quest. Seek them out once you are free. I can do no more for you."

"What are you talking about? You sound like you're about to die, but you can't if you're like Sai, this is your world, this is your kingdom, you're not… like the actors. Why are you talking to me like this? This is the first I've seen of you, and you're talking like you're going to never see me again." His eyes were heavy as he watched her. 

"That is what Orochimaru-sama wishes of me."

Sakura felt her heart kick inside of her chest and almost choked. Snake Eyes, Kimimaro was talking about Snake Eyes. Why was he talking about that dream killer? Why was he speaking of that murderer?

"What?" Sakura's voice came out weak and brittle, "What did you just say?"

"I must follow my original purpose. Your kindness, while appreciated, was ill-placed. Never before has a dreamer treated me with… no, anyone treated me with such concern. I'm truly grateful to you for that."

"Kimimaro," her voice hurt. "Don't do this." He shook his head, his mind made up.

"Thank you, but the next time we meet, I will kill you. The almighty serpent sees this and deems it so."

"Kim- just, no. No, please don't-"

He reached out and cupped the side of her face, and ice crystals formed where his flesh met hers. An almost smile was on his lips as he watched her. Being so close, she noticed the color of his eyes for the first time. Though rimmed in red, his eyes were like shards of foamy green sea glass. Green like hers, but much more brilliantly so.

"I'm sorry."

She felt herself shaking. He leaned in and kissed her once before he was a wind of ice on her lips and moving through her hair.

It seemed like forever until Sai found her, still stuck in the mist with her sword drawn and her lips frostbitten. He made a face and the tips of his fingers glowed like there was fire trapped beneath them. He rubbed his golden red thumb over her lips until they were flush pink again, and then massaged his fingers against the side of her face that was starkly white and showing off veins.

"He said he was going to kill me." Sai paused, but then continued massaging her face, moving on to her ear.

"I'm not surprised. He was one of the snake's most loyal. What was honestly so surprising was how long he followed you around without killing you. He wasn't like me. He needed Orochimaru to feel valued. You couldn't change that in him."

"But he said he would follow me here, and he did something for me. He cared, he didn't want to kill me. Why does he have to?"

"He doesn't, he made a choice, same as I did." Sakura felt like collapsing, and Sai noticed, collecting her into his arms as she hunched up and tried to bury her face. She could feel him patting down her hair. Her insides felt like mush. 

"What did I do wrong?" There was a long pause before Sai finally answered, and not once did he pause in the brushing of her loose hair. 

"You thought he could be saved."

Christmas came and went. Sakura spent it with Karin and her family, as her own mother refused to celebrate the holiday for religious reasons, or lack of religious reasons. Regardless, one of the biggest holidays of the year began with a sunrise and ended with a sky just as dark as the day before. Nothing seemed to separate it from all the other days in December, November, October, or even September. It could have been her birthday and she wouldn't have noticed.

She only realized this when she was stuck in front of a mirror, brushing her teeth before bed. Karin was getting the extra bed ready in her room, and somewhere else in the house Karin's parents were putting themselves down for the night.

"That's right, I'm sleeping over," she whispered to herself out loud. She spit into the sink and then looked up at her reflection, checking her lips for excess toothpaste and spit. She couldn't feel it on her lips, but she saw it so she wiped her face with the back of her wrist.

"Did you say something?" Karin asked, poking her head into the bathroom. She frowned at the distracted look in Sakura's eyes. "You okay?"

"I'm talking to myself, when is that ever a good sign?" Sakura asked, spitting again and then rinsing with a handful of cupped water.

"That's nothing new, but you seemed out of it today. Was it really that bad, spending Christmas with us?" Sakura frowned, putting her toothbrush away and turning the light off.

"Why would you think that? You should know me better than that. I'm just a bit… dazed at the moment. I've been thinking about things." Like killing a monster and saving a friend who claims to be beyond salvation.

"You okay?" Karin actually sounded worried, which wasn't like her. Karin was gruff and blunt and dishonest about how much she cared about things. For her to sound so honestly worried meant Sakura wasn't hiding her troubles well enough.

"I just kind of wish mom would have at least called me, today. That's not too much to ask or hope for. I know she doesn't believe in gifts, but… ah, whatever." Sakura shrugged and acted like it didn't matter, because that was the truth. "I don't care. Let's sleep."

"Your mom was making you like this?" Sakura made a face, hoping her lie was believable.

"No, it's… I don't know why I was thinking about it. Forget it. I don't know why I'm tired or spacing out. Just pretend it's an overactive imagination or something." She sighed, shaking her head and pretending she didn't know what was really bothering her.

She had blood on her hands and one lost friend.

Karin reached over and knocked her forehead hard against Sakura's shoulder. Sakura stumbled a bit, put off balance, but laughed when Karin straightened up. Karin's face was contorted into a pouty scowl that made her look almost cute.

"Don't make me worry, bitch."

"Whore," Sakura hummed.

"Jerk," Karin hissed.

"Slut."

"Shut up and get to bed!" Karin stalked forward then stopped, turned on her heel and lifted a pointed finger, "And be glad that my dad didn't hear you. He already knows I'm a hellcat with the mouth of a sailor, but for some reason he still believes that you're a precious angel who farts butterflies."

"I'm pretty sure he never believed I farted butterflies."

"Just go to sleep already, you skunk."

Sakura grinned to herself, tying her hair off to the side in a short braid, before following Karin under the heavy comforter that protected the pair of them from the December cold. Even with all the blankets and all their fighting, Karin's hand found Sakura's and pulled the older girl closer. Over the covers, Karin glared over at Sakura, daring her to complain, before tugging Sakura even closer and cuddling up to her for warmth.

Typical Karin.

Sakura closed her eyes. This time, sleep came slowly and not as harshly as before.

There was arguing downstairs. Sakura opened her eyes and saw the room was dark and the sun was still sunk beneath the horizon. It was early morning and there were voices harsh and angry coming from the downstairs. She held her breath and then crept to the door, sliding it back a crack so that she could peer out.

There was Zabuza and another man Sakura didn't recognize in the doorway. A villager!

Sakura reached for the green energy flowing through her body like river water and redirected it to her ears the way Tsunade had shown her to. All at once the world came into harsh clarity, and all the sounds intensified. Even with the door closed, Sakura could hear them perfectly.

"You don't think I have anything to lose?" Zabuza asked, his voice low and harsh.

"You don't know the threat of loss like the rest of us, otherwise you wouldn't be acting this way. We're terrified and everyone is doing whatever they can to help except this household."

"We make our own preparations, and tossing flowers on the open water isn't much of a precaution, if you ask me. Pretty things won't make a monster pause."

"They're to let him know his bride is on her way… to wait. Already the waves have begun to churn and rise. Fishing is nearly impossible in those waters. We are losing our livelihoods, what more can we do when you are the ones harboring the only possible sacrifice?!" Sakura felt as well as heard Zabuza slam a closed fist against the door frame. When he spoke again his voice was as low as a demon's. 

"Watch your words, scum." The villager was startled, but in time he recovered enough to meekly reply in a voice much diminished. 

"We can see her, and hear a woman's voice, even if you choose to hide her. Does she know what her selfishness will cost her? All our lives will be lost at this rate."

"You're a worm and a coward to be talking to me like this, to be suggesting a young girl is selfish for wanting to live. You're a man, aren't you? When did you ever stand up to fight? Where is your wife? Why isn't she a sacrifice?"

"Don't speak of my wife like- ack kuk kuk!"

Sakura held her breath, knowing that Zabuza had done something to keep the man from saying anything more. Maybe Zabuza caught him by the throat. That sounds like something he would do.

"Don't you dare come back here. If I see your face, or hear that you tried to approach her, the virgin killer is the last of your worries, old man."

Then there was a loud sound, like a body hitting the ground, and then a scuffle. Sakura could picture it all in her mind, how Zabuza threw the man out and watched as the villager ran away in mild fear. She pulled back away from the door and let her chakra go, returning to its natural flow within her body.

The three tailed crab was starting to stir, and the boys knew it. Soon, regardless of how ready they were, it would be time to face it, and this time, the battle would be tremendously different from when she fought the slug. This time, they would be on open water, his domain. The fighting would be that much harder for just one reason.

Sakura looked at her scrimshaw sword in the corner of the room. Would her tiny blade be enough? Her hands were pale and white with not nearly enough scars for her labors. She could level the earth, make the surface of a forest uneven, she could ruin stone, but would that be enough? Would one person ever be enough? Sai had told her she would die if she tried to face this threat alone, but was that just him being overprotective.

Sometimes in the dream world, Sakura felt above all things, like this was all truly a game and she was just another action hero that was blessed by some author or creator to make it to the final round no matter how poorly she deserved it. So far her survival rate was 100%. Would that ever end? Was it even in danger?

'Don't tempt it,' a new voice spoke out inside her mind. The reasonable half of her brain kicked her for thinking like a child. If she thought she was invincible, she would surely fall asleep and never wake up again, and a death in the dream world was likely worse than a death in general, since she would become an actor like Kisame and Sasori and Kiba. All were actors; trapped in a scripted cycle for every cursed dreamer.

"I should be training," Sakura said aloud, looking out the window to the silver lines on the horizon where a hidden sun was burning through the mist. Taking up her sword, she dressed for the day and left the room.

Kisame found her much later practicing her stances under the dark shade of a tree. He nodded towards the tree shading them from view and she noticed, but didn't interrupt her stances to reply.

"I thought the darkness was mine. What are you doing here, hiding?"

"I heard the man at the door this morning." Her sword fell through the air and stopped abruptly in the completion of a stance that used all the strength in her arms to control. Her heartbeat kept the rhythm for her.

"Oh."

Her sword fell again, and again, and again, and again. Over and over her body went through the stances till her mind was white and void. Her body took control and followed through with the movements without her having to think about it. Kisame took a seat behind her in the shade where no one could see his blue skin, and waited.

Her sword fell again, and again, and again, and again

It was a good while later when Kisame eventually spoke.

"The host inside the three tailed beast Isobu is my former apprentice. His name was Yagura."

Sakura's sword swung through another stance, but she didn't set herself up for another swing. Kisame saw this and took it as his cue to keep talking. 

"I think….we are as ready as we can be for destroying a beast like the three tailed crab, but Zabuza is concerned about the mental toll it will take on all of us. Haku and Yagura were friends once."

"Why are you even doing this then?" Sakura asked, remembering her freak out when she killed the boy inside Saiken, the six tailed slug. She hadn't killed a monster or a beast, she had killed a boy who wanted to go home. A boy with a name. She had killed Utakata. How much harder would it have to be for Kisame to kill someone he knew and mentored and cared for?

"Because it is our responsibility. Yagura was never an… ill-seeking child, the kind I would watch out for when considering an apprentice, but he was impatient and did not like to acknowledge his limits. These were traits I thought we could fix with training and discipline."

Sakura lowered her sword, recognizing the story for what it was; a lesson. She turned and knelt down in front of Kisame, intent to learn from it. His face was tired and aged looking as he spoke, having to fight a small battle for every sentence.

"Ah… but they led to his undoing. These beasts… can not stay in our world long without a host. They can visit and terrorize, but they can not remain lest they use up the chakra and die, that is why they need hosts. In the past, there were stories of warriors strong enough to conquer these beasts and harness their chakra for their own. Whole clans with red pinwheel eyes who could bend monsters to their will."

"Is that what Yagura did? Did he try to harness the three tailed crab?"

"Yes, and for maybe a month he was its master, but he was a child and his dedication was not so well refined. It was only a matter of time before the crab consumed him and began to terrorize the land. We should have killed Yagura then, when we had the chance. We didn't, and dozens of women are dead for it…you might be one of them, too."

"I won't die from this." Sakura thought of the Elephant Wolf and her knife fight with Orochimaru. Even her battle with the six tailed slug was a trail she had overcome. "You'll be there with me, right?"

" _ Obviously _ ," he huffed gruffly, sounding like a stiff old man, "As if I would let a younger woman face my monsters without me. Don't count me out yet."

"I wasn't planning on it." Sakura shrugged. "I just…it would be nicer if you were by my side, cause I don't want to die either."

Kisame looked over at her for a long while, watching her. It would have been uncomfortable if Sakura didn't feel as close to Kisame as she did and trusted him as much as she did. Something about fighting alongside him, training under him, sharing secrets with him…there was a bond there for better or worse and she didn't see it as romantic, but still very close. Eventually he broke the gaze, closing his eyes and sighing.

"Naturally," he grumbled. "Don't worry about that. I'm not leaving you and you're not going to die." There was conviction there too, even though his tone was light. Kisame meant what he said. Sakura grinned and nodded.

"It's a promise."

The next night, when Sakura laid down to dream, she woke up well before the sun once again. Instead of wasting time in thought she went out with her sword to practice her stances. Under the branches and before the sun, there was no real shadow when everything was equally dark, but it was still a place she wanted to train, knowing that it was out of the way. In this place she wouldn't disturb anyone.

There was a noise behind her and she didn't bother to turn around or move, thinking it was Kisame. Her sword fell and then a breeze made her heart seize. 'Not Kisame,' her body told her.

She whirled on a swing and the end of her blade was under the chin of a child with wide eyes and watery tears cutting trails through the grime on his face. Under the blade, he began to cry again. Sakura cursed, putting her sword away and moving over to comfort the boy. The boy only cried more as she moved to pat his head and whisper sweet words.

"Don't wanna!" he made out through his tears.

"Shh, shh, you're fine, it's okay. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. I'm sorry, there's nothing to be afraid of anymore. You're safe."

Still crying the boy reached into his shift and then pulled out a piece of paper, waving it out in front of him as if it were there to protect him. Sakura saw writing on it and a part of her mind began to race. She recognized it from somewhere, Itachi had those things…they were…

The paper exploded in a cloud and Sakura's throat seized up. Her body went numb and poppies began to bloom behind her eyes as she fell unconscious to the paper bomb.

She could feel hands reaching for her, dragging her, pulling her away. She could feel her body being stripped as heavier robes were layered over her shoulders. She heard metal too, not armor, but jewelry. They were dressing her with flowers and jewels …like for a wedding.

Not a wedding, a sacrifice.

With no armor and no sword she fought against the drugs and tried to move, tried to speak, tried to open her eyes and see. Her ears could hear at least when they complained.

'She's moving, she's waking up.'

'More of the drug, in her neck, there!'

She felt it when the cold metal tore a hole in her neck and rushed in drugs that made her sleep harder and farther away from the world.

'They can't do this to me. Zabuza warned them, Kisame promised me! They took my sword, they knocked me out. I can't fight like this, this isn't how it's supposed to go!’ Inside her mind she was screaming.

Her blood was boiling and the chakra was a torrent in her body, rushing with anger all throughout her system. She could feel the drug in her veins, see the leaves of the root they drew it from. She attacked it with her own chakra and tried to eat at it the way she ate at everything before. She could feel it giving way, breaking down and dying against her antibodies. Nothing so far could keep her down and so surely, not this. Her end would not be here.

'Are you done yet, women? Her face will be of no use in an hour's time.'

'Almost. Don't rush it. To appease a kami is not easy work, boy.'

'She's almost done, prepare the boat.'

'The boat is ready, just bring her out.'

'I think she's starting to wake up. Get me another needle.'

'Don't bother with it. It is no matter, the drug will keep her from moving for another hour more. That's all he needs.'

'She's ready, take her!'

Sakura felt herself being lifted and fought the urge to thrash and free herself, to make for her sword and run. She needed to fight the battle in her blood and free her body before she went face to face with the monster under the waves. ' _ Yagura _ .'

She was set into a boat, laid down like a corpse as an old woman weaved flowers into her hair and filled up the boat with floral blossoms. She could smell it strongly and knew anything else out there on the waves would be able to smell it too. It was probably more so for that fact they adorned her with flowers, and less so because it was something to make a bride more appealing on her wedding day.

'Today, you wed death,' an old woman said with a voice more brittle than paper.

Sakura set herself on fire, feeding her chakra to the poison in her blood with greater haste. A slow burn nibbled away at the poison, but a blaze of fire tore at it in huge mouthfuls. She was wasting a lot of the chakra she needed in order to fight, but it was unavoidable. If she didn't she would be dead anyway.

'Sai! Come find me if you can!' she mentally called. She almost called for Kimimaro, but caught herself, knowing that he likely wouldn't show up to help her even if he was summoned.

Tears spilled out over her lower lashes, and she could feel the color cream they used to paint her face with. Her boat was drifting closer and closer, and all she could do was barely lift her lids to cry. Her fingers and toes twitched a little, then her wrist. She could feel her wrist and ankles coming back to her, and suddenly she had control of her head and neck. She looked up and saw an early sky, still faintly colored with silver and gold through the mist. She was far from the shore, and drifting closer to where the monster slumbered beneath the waves.

Another minute later and she could move her arms, followed by her chest and torso. She had almost enough strength to sit up when she felt the first rocking waves. She was close to the crab.

"Damn it," she cursed, still crying as she pulled herself up. She could do that much, but her legs were still beyond her control. She was crippled in a rowboat. "Sai, Kisame, someone… Damn it, I'm not supposed to be doing this alone."

Another rolling wave and she felt a zing of control, but still no legs. Sakura closed her eyes and felt for her chakra, finding her levels lower than she liked. She had near perfect control, but all this frantic burning was causing her to waste a lot of it. She had to calm down and take more control over the situation. She needed her legs and she needed a sword.

Holding out her hand she felt a ripple as she tried to imagine a sword not unlike the one she trained with. Her chakra kicked and there was pain behind her eyes. She couldn't summon anything.  _ Not now _ . It was just like when she panicked in the middle of a fight and couldn't do anything.

"Don't panic," she told her body before trying again. The kickback was less painful, but once again there was no sword and she still couldn't move her legs. "Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic."

The surface of the water rolled, and then with a rush and a roar, it broke and out from beneath the waves rose the massive body of the blue gray three tailed crab.

' _ Fuck _ .'

It's mouth was long and crowded with razor teeth that didn't fit perfectly. Sakura saw that mouth part, opening and smelling of the stench of decay he feasted on. Right in front of it, the last thing on her mind was how little it actually resembled a crab. It fell towards her, groaning, teetering, looming, a shadow of gray as long as a mountain with teeth as long as her whole body.

"Yagura!"

Her boat was a mess of splinters on the water's surface, and she felt herself sinking, weighed down by the heavy cotton of her dress. Oh, it was very pretty for a wedding kimono. It searched the water for her and then saw her sinking before chasing her, below the surface, into his domain.

Something her body remembered was how to turn and twist with a mermaid's tail for an audience last summer with other actresses at a hotel resort. He reached for her with splintering claws thick and rough, but she weaved out of his reach, shedding a layer of silk and another of cotton. Her legs were still useless, but she remembered what a tail felt like.

More and more jewelry fell from her body like scales shed until she could float upwards without having to swim like mad. He was big, but that wasn't so great a thing when he was looking for something as small as his tooth. She was able to slip in and around him, heading up behind his head towards the surface.

Before she could even break free, there was a hand there, reaching for her. She took it and was heaved up onto the back of Zabuza as Haku slid past them, freezing the water surface for their battle. Mangetsu was running in step with Kisame before both came down with their oversized swords to sever clean through the water.

"Took you long enough," Sakura coughed, still feeling her legs hang limp. She was also cold now too because of all the layers she had to shed.

"Sorry," Haku gasped, his cheeks and eyes both red. "We won't let you down now."

"Obviously," Sakura laughed, feeling her lids lower as Zabuza set her down on the ice. She shivered but still couldn't feel her legs. "I can't stand." Zabuza growled reaching for her neck and running a thumb over the hole from their needle. He must have known what it meant. 

"Watch her," he barked to Haku. "You're back up. Projectiles to the eyes and sensitive areas only. Don't draw it's attention."

"Got it!" Haku placed his hands down on the ice and glaciers rose up for cover and spikes for shooting off.

Nodding Zabuza heaved his cleaver shaped sword onto his shoulder and took off to follow Kisame and Mangetsu.

Sakura was right. This fight wasn't anything like the one with the six tailed slug. There seemed to be no openings, and the three males had trouble staying upright and finding footing from where to launch their own attacks. It was hard to watch, and Sakura's heart ached every time it looked like one of them wouldn't make it. The three of them weren't enough.

"Haku." He looked down at her when called. "Help me stand. I can feel my legs again."

"You shouldn't! It's too soon, and if you rush it the drug could be fatal-"

"I've filtered most of it out of my body. It's not even there anymore. Help me stand!" Haku hesitated, but then reached for her. 

"What are you going to do?" She felt like a newborn fowl on the ice with her legs being mostly made of jelly.

"I have enough chakra for one good hit. It will be enough to break through the shell. You need to let the others know that will be their chance. With the shell destroyed, Yagura will be exposed. That's your only shot at ending this. Can they do it?"

_ 'Can they kill their friend?' _

"That's what we're here for," Haku answered, his voice harder and stronger than Sakura ever heard. Haku seemed much older all of a sudden.

"Get it's attention and something I can launch off of."

The ice underneath Sakura began to grow, and she lurched before recovering and crouching. Haku would shoot her up into the air, and then it would be up to her to recover in time and strike the shattering blow.

Haku watched her get into position before an arsenal of projectiles rose up out of the ice. There was a hardness there in his eyes before he set off the first volley with a defiant war cry. They hit hard enough to grab the crab's attention as well as Zabuza's. The entire fighting party turned towards Haku who was shooting off volley after volley of ice spikes that were sometimes as long as Sakura's torso. It was taking a lot out of Haku's chakra stores, she could tell. Zabuza looked angry, and Kisame seemed just as frustrated, but both shared the same look of panic when the crab turned and started lumbering towards Haku and Sakura.

"You had better get clear," Sakura warned.

"Don't worry about me. You're up next."

Sakura braced and before Zabuza or Kisame could swear at either of them she was in the air, shot up like a rocket she climbed fast before the crab was a fist sized creature below her. She felt her body peak, and then gravity, greedy and cruel, began to pull her back. She turned, twisting over herself, drawing everything she had left in her body into her fist. She tumbled over herself, gathering speed. She could feel the ends of her body shudder with the loss of life as she pulled at all of the chakra left within her. She would be exhausted after this, if she was able to wake up at all.

The crab was growing bigger and bigger by the second. She was so close, and the wind rushing against her was bitter as she tumbled one last time before straightening out. She was a spear in the wind and her fist was the hand of God.

" _ Shannaro _ !"

Contact.

Harder than earth, the crusted exterior of the crab's back shattered, splitting out like the arms of a spider web that stretched. Like thunder, the break roared out audibly across the waters before the broken puzzle like pieces began to slide away and fall into the water.

Her vision flickered in an out of focus, beating like a heartbeat, clean and then unclear. She wasn't soaring anything, so was falling along with the shell pieces into the water. She couldn't feel anything as she sunk beneath the surface and the waters closed over her. Her vision flickered again and then violently went black.

This time, there were no poppies blooming behind her eyes.


	7. KOB 4

**Kingdom of Beasts**

**Part 4**

* * *

"But you see, there is a graveyard in my mouth filled with words that have died on my lips."   
-Emily Palermo, 

* * *

Sakura was surprised when she woke up in the morning, or at least grateful for it. She had felt so utterly emptied after that last fight, she wondered if what they told her about chakra depletion being deadly was true. If she was still waking up, then maybe not.

She shifted in bed, and the world turned. She made it to the tile in her bathroom, but couldn't reach the toilet before her stomach emptied of bile. Her head was burning up and everything seemed to be caught on fire. Her body was a nest of pins and needles, and she knew this was the worst fever she would ever have in her life.

When she dreamed at night, it was nothing but fog and fir trees. There were fires burning and druids singing. Birds made out of paper who turned into books when they landed under stone arches. It was nothing but fairy tales for two whole nights. Sick as a dog, Sakura spent her Christmas break on the couch watching Twilight Zone reruns with Karin in between puking sessions. Ami was still away, but she sent a care package of food Sakura couldn't stand to smell lest she vomit again.

It wasn't until the third day when the mist in her dreams parted and the wood ceiling came into focus.

She turned her head to the side and saw Kisame leaning up against the wall with his sword leaned up against his shoulder. There was a bowl with a wet cloth right beside her futon bed. When she turned her head, the cloth on her own forehead fell down her face. She reached up and felt the crust around the corners of her nose and mouth. Scratching, her nails came away red.

'Dried blood, fun.'

"Awake?"

Sakura turned to the opposite side in time to see a shadow move the rice paper door back. Tsunade stood there with a tired expression pulling down the corners of her face. Sakura blinked, having a hard time believing it.

"Tsunade?" The older woman sighed, and she resembled a deflated balloon.

"Took you long enough." Sakura took in her surroundings again.

"I'm still in Mizu. What are you doing here?"

"Bringing your sore ass back from the dead, apparently." She nodded over at Kisame. "That one said he would slice me to ribbons if I didn't do everything humanly possible, but there really wasn't much I could do, apart from keep you stable while your body replenished its own stores of chakra. Nothing too complex about that, but if I didn't have perfect chakra control, I might have lost you at some point. Say thank you." Sakura glanced back at Kisame who had dark bags under his eyes and shallow breaths. He looked like a ghost. Keeping her voice down, Sakura turned back to address the older woman. 

"That still doesn't answer my question as to why you are here? Weren't you in a game house somewhere?"

"That was the plan, but funny as it seems, I almost got recruited by an interesting bunch." Tsunade held out an offered hand for Sakura to take in her efforts to stand. "Walk with me?"

Sakura took the offered hand and followed Tsunade out, weaving slightly as she had trouble walking straight. Sakura had to pause often to keep the world from spinning, but Tsunade was oddly patient and waited without complaint while Sakura tried her best to follow the older woman out. They passed neither Zabuza or Haku, but Sakura thought she saw Sickle hiding out of sight when she turned her head to the side and looked back over her shoulder.

"So…?" Sakura looked up, expecting an answer.

"An interesting bunch of fellows asked me to join them and help them destroy the remaining tailed beasts, claiming it was their divine mission from the heavens or something like that. They had a snazzy name and everything."

"Akatsuki, they've been busy."

"They took Itachi, and they asked about you and Kisame. I told them to fuck off." Sakura yawned, pausing to let her lungs fill with air.

"I thought you knew what I wanted was to kill all the tailed beasts. Why would you say something like that?"

"Because they were dangerous men and I didn't like the look of them. Also, at least one of them is a known murderer who's killed dozens of people. I don't like the look of that crowd, so I thought it best to warn you."

"Should I? You said Itachi joined their ranks." Sakura watched the older woman for a reaction, waiting to see if there was a flinch or flicker in the face. Tsunade was stone faced.

"I think he only joined because he knew he would have an excuse to see you again. He's… tender hearted, that one. We could see his childish crush budding a mile away, but poor sap that he is, it was obvious he didn't know what to do about it. He didn't ask you to take him on, did he?" Sakura remembered his bow and the last time she saw him how meek he seemed. He was different from the Itachi she knew as a Morning Rover. 

"No, I don't think he did. Sorry for the troubles."

"I have nothing better to do with my life now." Tsunade seemed to sigh with her whole body when she let out a breath. "What will you do once you accomplish your goal?" Sakura thought of the worlds and almost dreaded the idea of another gate as large as the last one. 

"Find another goal I guess. You?"

"I'm working on gambling my life away. It's been fun, but I think shooting myself out of a cannon would be just as fun sometimes. Hey…" She stopped seeing something wrong with Sakura's face. Tsunade cursed. "You've done too much, this is your limit. As your doctor, I insist you rest here before we turn back. It will still be a few days before you're back to your old self."

Sakura nodded numbly, stopping to lean against a tree trunk. They weren't far from the house, they were actually still in the yard, but it felt far to Sakura. She heard chopping close by and wondered if it was Haku or Zabuza.

"The old one wouldn't even come into your room when you were sleeping, but he waited outside your door for nights. Blamed himself for not making the decision to attack earlier on, or letting you get caught. Don't be too harsh on him. He's beat himself up over it enough and on top of that he has to see you go."

"You knew I was leaving."

"Everyone knows. They think it's because they're not good enough company, don't let them believe that."

There was a commotion and Sakura heard loud cursing followed by a thud. Tsunade chuckled. Sakura was having a hard time keeping her breathing even so she closed her eyes and listened as Kisame roared into the empty house before flying out. She heard him yell at Tsunade and then stop short when he caught sight of Sakura. She felt his embrace crush her before she could open her eyes to see him.

"Damn you!" he cursed, holding her tight, but not tight enough to snap her in half like she feared he would. "Don't do that! Don't disappear like that." He let her go and then stood back, composing himself. "Ah, er….um, when did you wake up?"

"An hour ago?" Sakura asked, turning to look at Tsunade for confirmation in the form of a head nod, "…But I was planning on going back to bed soon. I'm too tired to walk it seems."

"You should carry her back up, she's not in the condition to push herself so far so fast. Keep her in bed and make sure she rests." Tsunade waved a hand in a dismissive manner. 

Not minding it, Sakura raised her arms up and let Kisame pick her off the ground and carry her like a doll back into the house and back into her bed. She didn't see Haku or Zabuza, but heard the chopping wood.

"It's Zabuza. Haku took Mangetsu back, he will return shortly. He was too worried about you to be useful around here."

"It wasn't anyone's fault. It would be stupid to blame yourselves."

"I guess so, neh?"

"I was talking about you too." Sakura narrowed her eyes. "I'll be fine by tomorrow at this rate. Don't think this is the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

He carried her back into her room and laid her down under her covers, replacing the cold compress even when she made a face. He hesitated before moving away though.

"What was the worst?" She blinked, confused. "What's the worst thing that ever happened to you?" he repeated.

Feeling sleepy, Sakura snuggled down into her blankets and told a watered down cliff notes version of her adventures in the Kingdom of Man and the Monarch Woods. Kisame told her of his fall from fame, of his past as a deadly mercenary, of his radical change of character after the massacre of his adopted village, the only one that didn't seem to fear him for his color. He told her of his whore mother and his too short childhood. He told her of how he used to work with Mangetsu training the kid to be a deadly swordsman of the mist before he quit and took on Yagura as a swords smith and apprentice. How Zabuza soon followed him once he found a boy abandoned in the snow, and decided to name and raise him. He told her many things. He told her of loss, of loneliness, of despair, and she listened.

"What will you do next?" Sakura was warm under all the covers and it made her eyes heavy even if she didn't want to sleep. 

"The curse compels me. I will seek out those hunting the tailed beast and do my utmost to rid this world of them."

"Even though they are killers and dangerous men." She smiled, reaching out to touch his hand. 

"Not all dangerous men are bad."

"That doesn't leave me with much of a choice then."

"Hm?" She was drifting.

"You're not leaving without me."

" _ Mmmmkay _ ." Her eyes were already closed and nothing Kisame said made sense, but it sounded pleasant in her ears.

The next time Sakura dreamt, her body was whole. She stood without complication, and when she walked, the world didn't sway. She dressed in her simple robes and tied her sword to her side. Looking out the window it was dark and she knew the others were too tired to be up at this hour. Emotionally they were all exhausted.

Would they want to say goodbye? Was that even a good idea?

There was a heavy mist across the grounds, so Sakura conjured a second cloak to drape over her shoulders and a straw hat like the one Kisame always wore.

The two closest tailed beasts were the Matatabi: the two tailed cat and the Son Goku: the four tailed monkey. The Son Goku was closer, but Tsunade told her that the Matatabi was being targeted by the Akatsuki next. A two tailed demon cat that led men down to the dead lands where she made her home…it was almost scary enough to discourage Sakura.

"Sakura?" She turned away from the gate to look back and see Haku. He was still in his sleeping robes and his eyes were blurry with not too distant dreams.

"What are you doing up when it's not even dawn?" he yawned while stumbling towards her. When he was close enough to reach out and touch her he did, grabbing the fabric of her new cloak. "Come back inside."

"I'm not coming back," Sakura whispered, closing her eyes as mentally bracing herself. Haku stilled and looked down at the fabric he clung to as it was his first time seeing it.

"You're leaving." Sakura nodded. "You're going away. Why?"

"I have to kill the other beasts, and you all knew that before I even started training here. We knew I wasn't going to be a forever thing." Haku's breathing picked up and his cheeks turned red.

"Th-then you can marry me!" Sakura froze, struck by his words.

"What?"

"I-I want you to marry me, Sakura. I was going to ask you later… when it was more romantic and just the two of us, but… I had a speech and… a proposal for your hand." He took a deep breath and the color in his cheeks lessened. "I-I know you haven't had much luck with love in this life so far, and you've been hurt before, but I promise to do everything possible to make you the happiest woman alive. I'll never let you cry and I'll take care of you forever and love you always. P-Please become my wife."

Sakura thought of Kiba and her heart pinched. The way Sasori whispered in her ear and kissed her neck made pieces of her heart seize. Every boy that cared for her had a bit of her heart, but she had never felt like she could ever give it all away. Maybe with Sasori she could have, but she never got the chance, did she?

"Haku, I'm sorry." When she looked up the sadness in his eyes was almost enough to silence her, but he laughed.

"No, don't be. I knew this was coming. I would have been surprised if… it was different. It kind of felt like proposing to the wind. No way I could keep you, neh?" He smiled in spite of the water collecting in the corners of his eyes. "Zabuza said I had as much luck, but at least I tried." Sakura leaned over and kissed the side of Haku's face. 

"You were very brave." His pink cheeks turned red.

"You'll stay safe."

"Always." Haku nodded, resigning himself.

"Then maybe one day, when your curse is all played out, you can come back and I'll take you skating." Sakura stroked his cheek with the back of her knuckles, the way her father used to when she was a child.

"You're a sweet soul, Haku-kun, don't ever change."

With her parting words spoken, Sakura turned and left. The mist swallowed her like a hungry animal, and she couldn't help but feel a little cold and devoured.

She was traveling maybe an hour before she thought to call for Sai, the lack of company becoming unbearable. Sai never answered, and she feared it was because he was too weak. She almost called for Kimimaro but stopped herself, because he was now her enemy and she didn't want to cross swords with him.

So lost in her loneliness she almost didn't draw her sword in time to block the buster blade that cut through the mist out of a shadow. She grunted and skid backwards from the shock before swiping the air and pushing back the mist. It cleared in the gust and left Kisame standing there with an angry expression and his sword drawn.

"What-"

"Damn it!" Kisame roared, swinging his sword again and this time Sakura didn't try to block, she just jumped out of the way. "I told you to fucking wait for me! I said I was going with you, did you think I didn't mean it?"

"What, when was that!?" Sakura screamed, feeling nervous. Kisame looked pissed. "Ssh-okay, put the sword away and just talk to me."

"Did you try skipping out on me?" His voice was a yell.

"N-no? I didn't know you actually wanted to come with me, or that you could be serious about something like that."

"Why would you think that?!"

Sakura froze a bit, her sword still out. Why did she try leaving without Kisame? He would have been a huge help. She could take advantage of the fact that knowing any actor she was around too long was susceptible to suggestion from the dreamer. She could have easily manipulated him into following her. Why didn't she?

"You could get hurt." She finally said something. Kisame relaxed instantly, the hard lines of his body smoothing out. "You could even die." Sakura bit her lip, not knowing if she said the right thing.

"You'll fix me. You can do that now, can't you?" When she nodded he lowered his sword and crossed the distance between them. Stopping right in front of her he dropped his heavy hand on her head and ruffled her loose hair. 

"That's enough for me then." He sighed deeply. "I told you I was coming with you, and I always meant it. You're not going anywhere without me from now on."

"…You're not following me into the women's bath."

"You!" Kisame sputtered, his cheeks turning purple in blush. "You think I'm some sort of pervert?  _ Oi _ !"

Two weeks and six days later.

New Years came and passed.

Sakura traced the high curve of her cheekbone with the back of her hand, glancing discreetly over her shoulder for the shadow of her partner. It was late, and the forest around them was as dark as it was quiet. Kisame had left to take a moment for himself and Sakura was starting to get worried in his absence. There was something off about their surroundings. They were hunting the Son Goku and they could almost smell the giant ape by this point. Sakura knew they were close because the forest was silent around them. No birds, no bugs, nothing dared to stir.

There was a spike in temperature behind her and Sakura could feel the heat on her back. Stiffly, she glanced behind her once again and saw that this time, instead of empty space, there were large yellow eyes of a wild ape staring at her from in between the trees.

"Mmm shit," she whispered with a forced smile before the fist came down.

She was fast and managed to dodge in time. Turning over herself, she recovered and drew her sword. This was it, after days of stalking and sacrifice, she was in front of the beast. This time she was ready. Chakra ran into her blade, extending its reach as she swung. The forest quivered under her power as her strike connected. The four tailed monkey howled in agony, holding up its severed stump of a hand, bleeding a river of blood.

'Just like Kill Bill,' Sakura hummed to herself as she dodged another attack and went after it with her sword again. There was chakra in her feet and in her legs as she skipped from the surface of one tree to the other, jumping off their trunks and swinging her blades. She struck again and a dark slash opened up across his chest, not deep enough to be deadly. She cursed and jumped out of the way to avoid it's other fist, and then it's foot, and then it's tail. It was wild with her, giving her no time to right herself and prepare another attack. It was taking all she had just to keep out of his range and avoid getting hit.

His tail missed her, but one of the four ends caught a huge cedar, wrapped around it, and snapped it in half before flinging it her way. Jumping into the air to avoid the projectile, she could hardly pull up her arms in time to block the other end of the tail coming back to strike her.

She cried out in pain, feeling it on her arms. She landed and then fell down, too dizzy to stand again. She looked up and saw the Son Goku towering over her, his stump of a hand still bleeding and his eyes yellow and wild. It cried out before bringing it's good hand down on the branch where she knelt, and she barely made it in time to an opposite tree. It turned to follow her with it's good hand but before it could, right at the elbow, a larger meaner sword than hers sliced through the huge trunk of his arm.

The tailed beast wailed and Sakura saw Kisame ready his sword for another attack and she did the same. Together they launched from their positions and cut into the beast's heart, slicing through him like a knife through butter.

Sakura closed her eyes and looked away, but Kisame watched as the host body fell from the Son Goku corpse, also sliced through. The dead host body fell with a wet thud on the floor below, and the sound made Sakura sicker than all the blood from the felled creature.

"You okay?" Kisame landed beside her.

"That took forever," she laughed. Her laugh must have sounded worse than she thought, since he almost grimaced when he took in the sight of her face. She tried laughing again, and he reached out to cover her whole face with only one of his hands. It was enough considering their size difference.

"Just don't let me see you make that face anymore." He sighed and then moved to drag her under his arm. "You look like a wreck anyway, with all that blood on your face. Someone might die of shock."

"I'm sure you've seen me worse than this," Sakura muttered into his shirt, remembering the last time she got sick on him after killing the six tailed slug.

"Either way, I don't want to see your sour face right now. It's making me feel weird. We should set up camp soon, we're both exhausted."

"Is there no inn nearby?"

"Not close enough," Kisame answered gruffly, ruffling her hair and walking past her towards the direction of the river where they could set up camp. Sakura followed dutifully, feeling heavy from the chakra she used up during the fight. It had lasted longer than she expected, only because she had to run around and dodge so much. If she had tried to take it on without Kisame as back up, she likely would not have survived… even if the Son Goku was equally exhausted from being stalked and trapped and baited for four days straight. Sakura hated to imagine what he would have been like well rested.

'No, no thank you!'

It was easy enough to set up the same camp they had survived in for the last three week nearly. Sometimes they got lucky and found an inn they could rest in, but Kisame didn't like spending Sakura's imaginary money, even though she tried to tell him she didn't have a limit. There was something about the honor of a man who was treated by a woman being lessened.

'Old fashioned, stuck up fool.'

She set out the bed rolls and he started the fire. She cooked, and he drew water for their tea. Sakura stared absently into her tea mug, knowing Kisame was watching her more closely. "I'm fine," she said, faking another smile.

"Bullshit."

"It's not bullshit." She took a sip. "Fine isn't the same as great, or good, or even decent. I'm not perfect, and I may not be well, but I'm fine enough to function. Fine isn't a good thing to be, but that's what I am."

"I don't know…" Kisame's eyes darkened and his voice trailed off. "Is it better to become hard and hurt no more, or stay soft?" Sakura laughed humorlessly.

"Do we have a choice in how we were made? If so, I would love to change. All this blood and death makes me sick."

"Sorry." Kisame sipped his tea and then ripped into his fish, his eyes downcast.

"It's not your fault." Sakura stayed quiet until she finished her dinner and downed the last of her tea. Kisame still watched her, and she knew he would see her if she as much as quivered her lip. He was like that, attentive to a fault. He took care of her like a father would, and it was nice in comparison to the romantic advances from the other actors she was used to. It was a different kind of love. She didn't have to love him back like a woman loves a man. She didn't have to change for him and that made her feel safe.

Kisame set the traps around their campsite and burrowed down into his sleeping roll, showing signs of exhaustion. Sakura dragged her bed roll closer and snuggled in, reaching out a single hand to touch the ends of his blue hair. He twitched, but didn't protest when she pet it back. After a while of stoking she felt his breath even out and knew it had lulled him off to sleep. It made her proud that she could do that for her friend.

Sakura laid her head down but sleep wouldn't come to her and the dream still felt deep around her. She closed her eyes but there were no poppies. Something was wrong.

'Sai!' she mentally called. She could feel the strain of his distance and knew his presence was one she could rely upon. It was getting harder and harder for him to keep up with her. She also noticed him looking more and more weary with every encounter. She bit her lip, sitting up, scanning the woods around them.

"Something's out there." Did someone follow them after hearing the Son Goku fall? Was it another monster beast?

"She's perceptive, that one."

Sakura's heart stopped.

No.

"Shut up, you just gave away our position.  _ Now _ !"

Sakura kicked out her bed roll and threw it into the air to send the black wires off course. Kisame was awake in an instant, and his sword was not slow in coming up to block the next volley of wire. She heard him curse.

A red scythe with three curved blades slashed through the air on a chain, catching Sakura's sheath before being thrown to the side. There was a familiar chuckle and Sakura's heart almost stopped when she saw Hidan step out of the shadows. His smile was just as wide and dangerous as she remembered it being.

"Hey precious, care for a spin?" he laughed, twirling his scythe over his head. His eyes narrowed. "Damn, you're actually really hot now that I see you up close."

"Hidan, don't get distracted," another man snapped. Sakura saw he was covered in a long black cloak that had a collar that came up to cover the bottom half of his face. The rest was concealed in a mask hat ensemble.

"Shut the hell up, Kakuzu! I can say whatever the hell I want to, bastard!"

"You have a job to do."

Kisame swung his sword and the man named Kakuzu had to back off.

Hidan cursed again and then switched his eyes to Sakura. They were glaringly beautiful while reflecting the low campfire light. 

"If I let you live, wanna ditch the blue freak for a night with me?" he flirted further before throwing his scythe out.

Sakura caught it and redirected it with her sword. Before he could pull it back, Sakura kicked it deep into the earth and raced along the length of the chain till she was in front of his face. She swung and he dodged in time. She didn't relent and struck again, slicing a long line down his chest that was just shallow enough that it wouldn't kill him, but the blood loss might. He cursed again and this time it didn't sound angry, but excited. He looked up at her and his eyes were dazzling. 

"My kind of girl!" he laughed.

Sakura made a face. She was low on chakra, but she wasn't about to let him leave her with just a shallow scratch. She could really kill him for all he knew. Why was he so excited? Was he conceited?

Something clicked and Sakura ran up her tree, away from the fight, sending out her senses and finding the other bodies with her chakra the same way bats found prey in the dark. There was something large flying about her, another two bodies off to the side, and a third close to where Kisame fought. If there were others they were too well hidden.

"Kisame, Silver Tail!"

Sakura leapt free of her tree, and Kisame looked up in time to see her pose. He disengaged the enemy and made a swift retreat just in time to avoid the impact of Sakura's chakra charged fist eating the earth. The ground shook with an earthquake and the surface ruptured, sending the enemies back with the rubble, but Sakura wasn't finished.

With her bare hands, she picked out a bolder twice her size and hurled it up into the sky, striking the large scenery bird that had been following them. She felt the chakra off to the side again and raised her heel high above her head before bringing it down, sending a fissure into the forest where the two figures from before watched. It hit something, but she doubted they were so slow they were the things hit. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kisame level his word at someone.

There was slow clapping. Heaving, Sakura turned to glance back over her shoulder and saw a woman in the same black cloak with red clouds as the masked man. 

"Impressive," she spoke. Sakura's heart hurt. Before the woman could pull her cloak away Sakura knew the face. 

"You were testing us, Konan." The blue haired woman blinked before opening up her cloak. 

"Doubly impressive. My reputation precedes me?"

Sakura looked past Konan at the man behind her. Pein scowled lightly, his shoulders dusty. Hidan laughed behind them as a pair of figures walked out of the tree line. Sakura saw at the end of Kisame's sword a bored looking Itachi. Sakura looked back to the tree-line to see the two figures coming up to them and her heart hammered.

"Damn it, it didn't even detonate like I wanted it originally to," Deidara whined.

"For which I am thankful, considering we were still passengers." Sasori's voice was a knife in her heart and it must have shown because Kisame had rushed to her side.

"Apologies, you two. We like to know the potential of members before we accept them into our ranks. I've been impressed enough to extend more than one invitation tonight. We could use your strength in the Akatsuki."

"Most people would ask before going after our tired asses," Kisame growled. "What makes you think we would want to shack up with a lot that just tried killing us?" Konan seemed unfazed by his retort.

"Necessity. You want the same thing we want. It would be easier if we combined our efforts." She tilted her head to the side, "And to be honest, you were never in any real danger, were you?"

"Doesn't negate the fact you're a bitch about all this. I wanted to sleep!"

"One must be ever vigilant with beasts in the world."

"No shit." Kisame growled. "What do you want from us? Are you even giving us a choice in joining?" He gestured to how they pair were surrounded by nin on all sides. Both Kisame and Sakura were low on chakra after their fight with the four tailed monkey.

"I'd like you to come willingly." Konan looked to Sakura, who was frozen like stone behind Kisame. "I've been a fan of your dedication and work ever since I've heard of you from Tsunade and the Uchiha. A young woman with so much power was something I had to see for myself. You were truly magnificent, Sakura."

Sakura looked up numbly, not seeing Konan but looking straight at her. Konan frowned at the gaze and nodded to her partner, Pein.

"Apologies. I didn't intend to agitate you when you were already in a weakened state. Please, allow me to make it up to you."

Konan held out her hand and her fingers unfurled into pieces of paper with secret writings on them. The papers flew as paper cranes to land around Kisame and Sakura. Before either could protest, there was a rush of chakra and the pair were somewhere new. When the light from their transportation dimmed, the pair found them on a bridge joining one traditional single story palace to another. Sakura gasped, seeing the imperial looking grounds all around them. Only Konan was still with them.

"These are my lands and my home. You may rest her tonight and in the morning we will talk."

"Do we have a choice?" Kisame growled, pulling Sakura closer to his side even as a pair of older woman maids approached them.

Konan smiled, and she was as lovely as an angel when she did. 

"Not at all."

"You look terrible again. I know the first week of classes can't be that bad."

Sakura looked up and saw Ami waiting for her on the porch. It was evening, and Sakura still felt trapped in the same daze she woke up in. She didn't remember driving home or anything from her classes that morning.

"Just tired. I think I might be getting sick again. No kisses."

Ami pretended she wasn't blushing as Sakura walked past her into the hall and dropped her book bag next to the stairs. Sakura noticed the discarded shoes in the hallway and looked up with a raised brow. 

"Visitors?" They were male shoes, so she was a little curious.

"Juugo and Karin are out back. Juugo is fixing a… a pipe or something. I don't know what it is he's doing, but Karin dragged him over. You gonna say hi?"

"It would be rude not to," Sakura chuckled, following the sound of chatty conversation. Juugo was in one of the rooms that used to be a back porch playing with some exposed electrical wires that needed caps. He was fitting one of the last ones when Sakura knocked on the door to the room, getting both his and Karin's attention. Both smiled at her.

"Hungry? I'll make something for us," Sakura offered. "Thank you, Juugo. I didn't know these needed fixing."

"Ah, no, it's just- yeah, for safety, it's no trouble, and yes, I would love to stay for dinner. What are you planning on making?" Sakura made a face, trying to recall what was in her kitchen she could use. She had frozen vegetables, some peppers, eggs, apples, some turkey…

"How about I surprise you? Will you be working on that much longer?"

"No, I'm nearly finished," Juugo answered.

"I had better get started then. Wish me luck."

Karin hopped off the ladder she was sitting on and followed Sakura into the kitchen where Ami was already waiting, filling a kettle with water for tea. The girls used the turkey and frozen veggies to make the main part of the dinner while Sakura worked on mashing a few potatoes for another side. Juugo came in not much later, and together the group made dinner and set the table as a team. Ami found some canned cranberries in the pantry and they served that as well.

Talking together over dinner, laughing about inside jokes, feeling like a mixed up family, it was almost enough to make Sakura forget.

Almost.

Sakura was dressed in expensive silks when she woke. The room around her was reflective of her sleeping dress, as it was large and ornately decorated with high end Japanese antiques and finery. Sakura's bed was large with posters and curtains, smelling of sweet flowers.

Sakura ran a hand through her hair and slipped out of bed, before going to the window. The house was right on a lake or something, since there was a body of water teaming with koi right under her window. Looking out, the property looked more like something out of historical Japanese drama about long dead emperors and princes.

"Damn," Sakura said to herself, mildly impressed.

Turning away from the window, she shed her expensive silks and dressed herself in a dreamed up black outfit she could wear a plain bronze haori over. There was an ornate kimono laying out on a stand that was likely meant for Sakura, but there was no way she was dressing up while in the enemy's house. She tied her hair up into a high ponytail before heading out into the hallway.

"Awake already?"

Sakura turned quickly to see Pein, of all people, standing just a few feet from her door in the same hallway. He was dressed traditionally with his black and red cloak absent from his persons. Clothing aside, he looked just as Sakura remembered him from the Kingdom of Man. His eyes like the sea after a storm, gray and wave tossed, bore into her.

"Pein."

"You are too familiar, Haruno-san." Sakura couldn't help but smile out of the corner of her mouth.

"I'm also a pissed off guest being held against her will. Wanna see where that takes me?" Pein almost looked concerned.

"There are none here with any ill intentions for you or your companion."

Sakura thought back to Hidan during their fight and how different he seemed, crazed and wild. Hidan from the Kingdom of Man could get like that in a fist fight, but not to such a degree he lost himself, and he was never quite so lewd in addressing her. Just like Itachi, this world's Hidan was changed. Did that mean Pein was no longer the same? Sakura glanced back over at Pein and frowned, feeling loss well up in her chest.

"You don't remember me, either?"

"I am quite sure we have never met before, Haruno san."

His reply was just like Itachi's and it made sense. New world, new dream, new actors. Just like real actors who stepped in and out of roles, the actors who lived in the dream world didn't exist. Kiba's suffering wasn't real, neither was Sasori's death. His goodbye kiss was just as empty.

"Haruno-san?" Pein sounded concerned. Sakura reached up and felt her face, finding it damp. 'Stupid.'

"I'm going to be in my room. Don't call for me if you don't want to get hit," she hissed, turning on her heel and heading back into the room she had woken up in.

"Wait!"

She didn't. The sound of the door sliding shut and latching into place was harsh enough to cut the man's protests short. He didn't linger, and he didn't try to fetch her. Sakura watched as his shadow hovered for a moment before disappearing down the hall.

"Sai, I know it's hard for you, and this probably asking a lot… but please, if you can," Sakura screwed her eyes shut, banishing the tears that wanted to seep free. "Please," she whispered to herself.

Shadows grew across the floorboards and no one came. Sakura's eyes were long since dried when she eventually stood and lit a candle for the room. She burned a stick of incense left behind and placed it in its holder. With the stick burning she closed her eyes and called one more time. 

"Please, I know it's too much to ask of you, but please I want to see you. Just to see you is enough."

When she turned around, he was in her bed laying down on his side, breathing a bit too heavily. Sakura cursed and ran to him, seeing how dark the bangs under his eyes were and how pale his already white skin had become. He looked withered.

"What happened to you?" Sakura bit her lip and cursed at the sight of him. He was straining just to even manifest in physical form.

"This might be… the last time," he whispered into the sheets. Sakura knelt down beside him and brushed the bangs out of his eyes. "Kimimaro… keeps me away from you. I can't… not anymore."

"Did he hurt you?" Sai weakly shook his head.

"He couldn't, but he tried. I'm weak from fighting him all this time." Sakura felt sick all over again.

"Damn it, then why would you bother to come see me? Even though I was stupid and asked you, it would have been better if you ignored me."

"You said you wanted to see me."

"I know, but it wasn't important. I just wanted to see you." Sai heaved another heavy breath and Sakura could hear the rough exterior of his insides with his every exhale. In spite of this, he managed to smile.

"That's why I came."

"Stupid," Sakura muttered under her breath. "I'm the stupid one for saying I would take you with me when it's obvious I don't know how to do anything. I said I would take care of you both, and now Kimimaro's fighting you all the time. I ruined it all and now… now the others are here, and it's like I never existed in their life at all."

"They are all dead, Sakura," Sai whispered, sounding sleepy. "They died long before you ever met."

"Does that mean everything we went through together, everything we did together… was it all without meaning? Was I the only one who thought…?" Sai reached out and touched the side of her face, stopping her from looking away. His hand fell limp back to the sheets right after contact though, and he shuddered through another breath. 

"You are not… stupid. This world, these actors… are for you. They exist and feel for you, they will be whatever you desire them to be."

Sakura thought back to that last kiss and how much her heart hurt. It tore at her even more when she thought about how little it even meant to a ghost like Sasori. It was a dream, after all. It was stupid to think of it as anything more. Nothing in her sleep mattered to anyone. Sakura dropped her head onto the bed and let it bounce a little. Sai reached up to pet it once and she fought back the tears again. 

"I don't want them to be actors, I don't want them to be dead, and I don't want you to be hurt. I don't want these dreams to always be nightmares." She turned her face so that she could better see Sai. "You're the only one who remembers me. Not even Pein…"

"Then you need to make them remember, one way or another. I've never heard of it being done before, but no one's ever tried before. If it's you, I think you could do it, Sakura. Work with them, fight alongside them, remind them who you are and they will see you again. They have all been gathered together like this for your gain, use it to your advantage."

"Will that help heal you in any way? What can I do to help make you better, Sai?" The young boy shrugged, his face still tired looking without any expression in particular.

"If you believe in me, that will be enough." He shuddered and then sat up. "I need to leave before he follows me here and puts you in danger. Please stay safe this time, Sakura." He looked down at her stomach where once before a knife had made its home between the folds of her flesh. She still had a scar in the dream world, but it was largely faded by now.

"I will," Sakura nodded her head and whispered her reply. When she looked up, the edges of Sai's body were already smoke. Before his face could burn away, she caught the corners of his lips quirk up in a secret sort of smile.

'I know you will.'

Sakura stood, feeling for the limits of this night's dream. She still had a long way to go before she had to wake up. The end was beyond her reach at the moment, meaning there was still a lot of work she could get done, and Sakura was the type of person who got work  _ done _ .

In the hallway there was no one. They had taken her sword from her, and all the other weapons had been left back at the campsite, but that didn't stop her from dreaming up another simpler sword with a smooth black sheath. Tugging nervously on her ponytail, she turned down the hall and began searching for Kisame or Konan, since she seemed to be in charge of the organization this time. It reminded Sakura a lot of the Morning Rovers and how that gang was made up. Konan hadn't been the leader that time because Nagato was sick and it was easier for Pein to…

Sakura stopped looking for Konan. It was just a hunch, but Sakura reached out with her chakra for someone different and found a corner of the castle cut off from the rest, dead to her chakra senses. It was just a gut feeling, but she wanted to follow it and see where it took her. This was a dream, after all.

Sakura ran for the dead zone, taking care to avoid the hallways with voices and bodies and chakras. If she was right there was a good chance some of them would try to stop her. Instead of sliding rice paper doors there were hinge doors that folded in. There were dragons and wards all over the doors. Passing over the threshold, even if she could get the doors open, would trigger something.

The wall on the other hand, came down easily enough without triggering anything. 'Don't understand why they don't do that in the movies.'

There was a startled gasp that sounded painfully shallow from somewhere inside. The interior room was dim and lit by only a handful of modest lams all turned down low. Without the light from outsid, the room would have been hard to see in. Sakura narrowed her eyes to see better in the dark and the shape of a giant Buddha head came into focus. It's mouth was open, and on it's tongue was a bed where a pale man lay. Sakura saw the differences, but recognized him from the last time she healed him.

"Nagato, wasn't it?" Sakura asked, strolling in without any concern to him, raising an alarm. It was obvious they were alone and the traps he had set were all on the door.

The pale man raised a hand, and a box off to the side began to rattle. Sakura cursed, seeing it's lid fall sideways and a body half raised, covered in bolts. Nagato seemed to be controlling it, Sakura could see his chakra inside the dead body, but just as it was about to step out of its box, the bedridden man gasped painfully and collapsed back into his sheets. The body fell just as well. Nagato was wheezing hard, struggling to breath.

More cautious than before, Sakura approached the sick man as he hacked up blood onto his bed sheets. His body looked like a set of bones with skin stretched over it, like plastic wrap. This Nagato was far sicker than the other. While he was being distracted with breathing properly, Sakura channeled her chakra into her hands. Nagato flinched, but the blood in his throat prevented him from doing anything.

"Just know I could take your life right now, old man," Sakura grumbled, before placing her hands onto his back and feeding her healing chakra into his damaged lungs. It felt like pasting shreds of tissue paper back together, and Sakura winced at how extensive the damage was.

"What are you doing?" Nagato asked, voice rough.

"Trying to piece your lungs back together, but they feel all shredded. It would be easier to manipulate brand new cells than try and work with the damaged ones you are already using. God, how long has this been going on? You shouldn't even be able to move like this."

"I can't," Nagato coughed. He looked over at Sakura as she worked. "Who are you and what are you doing here? You are a doctor… but Konan did not invite you." As if to support his claim he eyed the hole in the wall she made. "Konan will know I tried to summon my puppet bodies. She will arrive shortly."

"Doesn't matter, does it?" Sakura asked, her voice like a hum as she worked. "You're the one that runs things around her, aren't ya? You're the one that calls the shots." Nagato's expression darkened.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing at the moment, but me and my partner were taken against our will and held forcibly. While you haven't done anything we don't like yet, I still don't like the idea of being a captive in your hands. Can you understand that?"

"Fair enough. Still…" He let his voice trailed off as he breathed more deeply. "What do you hope to achieve with this little stunt of yours?"

"Better standing in negotiations." Sakura patched a hole in his lungs and added another layer to the cell structure to reinforce her new work. "There, does that feel better? Tell me if it's easier for you to breath now."

Nagato breathed deep and Sakura counted his ribs as the skin stretched thinner. At least this time there was no blood when he exhaled. With those holes patched, it would be easier for him to breath again.

"What was your name?" he asked in a softer tone of voice.

"Sakura, Haruno Sakura."

"Spring child, how fitting with that hair color of yours. Konan did not take you because you are a doctor, is that right?"

"If she knew, she didn't let on. No, we were picked up for our efforts in killing the six tailed slug, the three tailed crab, and most recently, the four tailed Son Goku monkey. Apparently beast killing is something you guys like to capitalize on."

"That is our objective. Konan most likely would want your efforts to aid our own in killing the seven tailed beetle, Chomei, and the nine tailed fox."

"What about the eight tailed bull?" Nagato waved his hand as if it wasn't a matter worth discussing. 

"We have a team set aside to deal with him. The other two have proven problematic in the past whenever we engaged. Both hosts have managed to secure partial control over their beasts, making them that much stronger and harder to track down. The Eight tailed beast is still a dumb animal." Sakura leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest and shifted the weight of her body from one let to the other. 

"That's fine with me. It was always my aim to try and kill all the tailed beasts with whatever help I could get, I just don't like being bullied, kidnapped, or blackmailed." Sakura paused to trace the underside of her jaw as she listened to the halls outside their room. "Also, since we're on the subject, Konan, why don't you join us and add your own input?"

Black sheets of paper seeped out from the shadows in the walls to form a woman who stood seething on the spot. Behind her ran a few more bodies, drawing closer. Sakura recognized Pein and Itachi through the hole in the wall. Konan paid them no mind as she continued to glare at Sakura and her proximity to Nagato.

"How did you know about this place?" she hissed, ready to attack should Nagato give her the signal. Sakura pretended the glare didn't faze her.

"Ah, just chalk it up to a gut feeling. Where is Kisame-kun?"

"He is eating. What are you doing here?" The cold woman's gaze shifted off of Sakura and onto the man beside her. There was blood on the front of his shirt and the sheets around him were dirty. "Nagato, are you hurt?"

"Konan," the dark haired man called her name in a strong tone. In response, Konan and Pein both flinched. "You are being rude. Sakura has not harmed me but rather quite the opposite, she has done a sufficient job in healing most of my lungs from their deteriorated state. Did you know she was a medic when you called her here?" Sakura watched as some of the fire in Konan's eyes dimmed and her hard features softened.

"A… medic. No, I did not know. I knew she studied under Tsunade, but I had assumed it was only for combat reasons." She glanced behind her at Itachi who watched the scene with eyes locked solely on Sakura's form. "Itachi, did you know this?"

"Yes. However, I had no knowledge of her level of skill." Pein took the opportunity to step forward, into the dimly lit room. 

"Nagato nii-san, are your lungs fully healed?" Before Nagato could respond, Sakura raised a hand, intending to answer.

"No, they're not fully healed, and they won't ever be fully healed if one goes about patching and fixing what's already there, which is what looks like a medic has done in the past, correct?" She waited for Nagato to nod, but saw Pein and Jonan incline their heads as well. It reminded her of the family story the three shared while in the first kingdom. Perhaps in this world, they were still orphaned children together. "As I figured. I already told Nagato this, but he needs new lungs, or rather newer lungs should be constructed in part by manipulating cells already in his body. All the lung cells are coming out sick, so I would take a cell from somewhere else and rewrite it. That would be a more permanent fix."

"You can heal Nagato?" Konan asked in a soft voice, forgetting her anger from earlier.

"I didn't mean to, but yes, this much is in my capabilities."

"But no one has been able to do that so far, and Tsunade refused to see him," Pein said, glancing sideways at Konan as if in need of confirmation.

"I'm pretty sure no one in this time period knows what a cell is, much less how it is made and altered, but that's beside the point. Konan, you brought my partner and I here against our wills. In spite of that, I have not sought out vengeance against you, even if it was within my power to do so. You original aim was to recruit us as members of your organization, correct?" When Konan nodded Sakura continued. "I can not speak for Kisame, but I don't take orders from anyone. I am willing to work alongside you and lend you my strength, but I will never be your subordinate. I will always have my freedom, and in exchange, I promise to help Nagato's body heal."

"What of Kisame, then?" Pein asked, sounding almost eager. His eyes were less harsh as he glanced sideways at his female companion.

"I would ask the same privileges be extended to him as well. You would take us on as contract workers unless he asks otherwise. I just ask that you give him the choice."

"How… willing would you be to work with us, Haruno san?" Konan asked, her tone still hesitant. Sakura could see by the harsh outlines to her shoulders and other areas of her body, she was still tense. For all she knew, Sakura was going to hang back and watch the rest of the gang go out and kill their monster without her.

"I can't give you a perfect answer, but I can tell you it's my intention just as much as it is yours, to kill these monsters as quickly as possible. I won't be an idle weapon in this fight." She turned her eyes from Konan to Pein to Itachi. "Do you think my words are false?" Konan and Pein looked over at Itachi who still watched Sakura without wavering. When he answered, his voice was a manifestation of confidence. 

"No." He addressed Pein and Konan. "She was honest and diligent under Tsunade's tutelage. You will not find fault with her." Feeling satisfied, Sakura uncrossed her arms and stood up straighter.

"Take your time to discuss it among yourselves, you have much you can talk about. Itachi will show me where Kisame is, and you can get back to me with your answer then."

Itachi bowed to both Konan and Pein before turning and following her out, but Sakura simply nodded, not one to show meekness before others. It wasn't long before Itachi's steps drew even with her own. Even when their shoulders were even, She could feel him watching her with more than just his eyes. All of him was aware of all of her.

"How have you been?" he asked, his voice the same soft velvet as before. This time there was no mask to muffle his words.

"As well as can be expected. Yourself?"

There wasn't an answer right away, but Sakura could almost hear the inner workings of his mind as he searched for an answer. Itachi in this world was different from before. When Sakura first met Itachi in the Kingdom of Man, he had been cold, mature, and calculating. This Itachi seemed… young.

"I have been well. You did not wear the kimono set aside for you. Was it not to your liking?"

Sakura almost laughed, remembering the bulky garment that would have taken two ladies to dress her in. It was very pretty, and Sakura had admired such dresses in the past on others, but it didn't make sense for a day like today. 

"It wasn't practical. If I needed to fight to defend myself it would have been a hindrance."

"You were never in any true danger."

"Thanks, but I can't trust just that. If I was wrong-"

"I wouldn't let that happen." Sakura almost missed a step when Itachi cut her off. His voice was stronger, older, darker. When he looked down at her she suddenly noticed the height difference. "Forgive me, I spoke too boldly." They were stopped outside of a large room with double sliding doors. Itachi reached to ease them open while Sakura numbly shook her head, waving it off. 

"No, that's fine. Don't apologize to me."

The screens rolled back, showing off a large interior room with several low eating tables and a large square counter in the middle of the room, overflowing with food. Kisame sat at one of the tables eating while glaring at Hidan, who sat opposite of him on the other side of the room. Both looked up when they heard the doors open. Sakura saw Kisame's eyes light up, but she also noticed the wicked gleam that came into Hidan's.

"Sakura!" Kisame cried cheerfully, a shrimp tail hanging from his mouth. He waved and made to get up, but he was too slow. A blur of black and flesh darted across the room, stopped only by Itachi's strong hand. Hidan grunted, having been shoved back.

"What that fuck was that for? I was just saying hello!" Hidan complained, rubbing the spot on his bare chest where Itachi had shoved him. Itachi's eyes were like mirrors reflecting a midnight winter sky. Even though they weren't directed at her, Sakura felt chilled when Itachi spoke.

"Watch your language. Also, your breath is foul. Do not approach our guest so casually."

"You're an ass, Uchiha. I was just trying to be friendly." Hidan turned his scowl off when he switched from looking at Itachi to Sakura. His grin stretched wider across his face and he struck a semi casual pose that showed off his bare chest. "It would be rude if I failed to entertain our guest. So, how about it? You have a man back home? Don't tell me you came with the blue loser."

"Oi!" Kisame was up and grabbing for his blade. Sakura recognized the dark look that came over his eyes. Sakura looked away from Hidan, pointedly ignoring him.

"Kisame, were you here this whole time eating? Was I really the only one worried about our safety? You left me to make all the negotiations on my own." Kisame still glowered, but approached her with a bit more control in the lines of his arms. It didn't look like he was going to swing wild and destroy the eating room any time soon.

"Che, no one told me anything when I asked. The one with the freaky eyes said if I was here, he would bring you."

"Freaky eyes?" Sakura looked up at Itachi and then made the connection. "Ah, you mean Pein. Yeah, I kind of freaked him out when he tried getting me earlier today and ran away."

"What did you do?" Kisame asked, an almost smile hidden in his grin. It was now Hidan who glowered on the side, obviously upset about being ignored. The white haired man glared at Kisame as the blue man approached Sakura casually, also ignoring the others in the room. Itachi at least didn't seem to mind.

"Oi, you didn't answer my question!" Sakura glanced at Hidan casually out of the corner of her eyes, not even bothering to turn her face towards him. "You- you're ignoring me?" Kisame scoffed with a sarcastic grin.

"What, that your first time, prick?"

There was an angry rash of blood across the handsome man's face just underneath the surface of his skin, staining his cheeks a pretty rose color. He did look pretty in a blush, and Sakura thought back to something Sai said, about how all the actors around her were bent and compelled to fill a desire. Was that the reason so many of them felt infatuated with her? Was that the reason so many of them were attractive? Was that her doing? Sakura pushed those thoughts away and pretended they didn't bother her.

"Where is the other one, the partner Kisame fought with?" Hidan still looked ruffled, not used to being coldly rejected or stood up to by a female like Sakura.

"Kakuzu is… working. What would you want with someone like him, He's old."

"You seem to be under the false impression that I’m motivated by something other than my professionalism. I'm here because it aligns with my objective, which is to kill the last three tailed beasts. Your dick has nothing to do with that, so I've elected to ignore it. Unless you have something else to discuss with me…" She let her words hang, her eyes hooded as she stared at him with bored eyes.

Hidan showed her a movie of emotion in just a few short seconds. She watched the feelings play across his face, one right after the other. Shock, anger, confusion, betterment, more anger, then wonder, questioning, resentment, questioning, and then finally, contentment. He regarded her again with less narrowed eyes, his blush and smirk also discarded.

"Where are you from?  _ Sorry _ if I'm curious and horny at the same time, but you really want to fucking blame a guy for trying to figure out where someone like you is coming from? What's your angle in all of this, tits?"

Sakura grimaced at the name, hating being talked to in such a dehumanizing manner. Damn if she wasn't proud of her body, but that didn't give him license to capitalize on it in his comments. 

"Sakura." 

"I got your name." He grinned a little bit.

She stood up to him, rising up to her full height, which wasn't even enough to touch his chin. She narrowed her eyes and thought of black thrones and thorny crowns and monarch gowns and murder. She was powerful and she was fearsome. 

"Good," she hissed. " _ Use _ it."

Not waiting for Itachi or Kisame to follow, she turned on her heel and made her exit.

Later, she met with Konan and Pein, Nagato having taken to his bed for rest. The two agreed to Sakura's proposition and offered her a place to stay. Kisame agreed to the same terms as Sakura, and added that he would be following Sakura around before he followed their orders.

When Sakura and Kisame left, Itachi was outside waiting to show them to their rooms. Sakura didn't want to sound needy, but she couldn't help but ask about the other members. Where were they, and when would she get to meet and see them?

When Itachi told her it was rare that any of the members saw or interacted with each other aside from beast missions, her heart sank a bit. When she retreated to her room, the sound of Sasori's voice was a cursed echo to her brain. All she could hear was his voice, even as she fought to connivence herself that he wasn't real, and that his feelings for her weren't real. He didn't truly care for her. She was in love with a lie.

She should have known the night she resolved to avoid him would be the night she dreamed about him. Nagato had invited her to tea, and she had healed parts of his lungs before he got too tired and let her go for the day. It was all very formal, just the way he liked it, so Sakura looked a lot nicer than what she was used to seeing on her, it was nothing major, one of her maids had pulled back her hair and painted her eyes before dressing her in a floral pattern kimono with a black background.

She was shuffling back to her room when she turned a corner and stopped. The pair opposite her froze as well, even though there was plenty of room between them. She had heard arguing, but it had been muffled and unrecognizable and now she saw why. Deidara wore a bandana around the bottom half of his face and was tugging on it. Seeing her stare, he pulled at the knot in the back and ripped it free.

"You're not a maid!" Deidara exclaimed, pointing at her. Sasori looked annoyed and a bit like he wanted to slap himself. Sakura closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before inclining her head to be polite.

"How observant of you. It is no wonder you are the eyes of this organization, Deidara-kun." The blond stuttered and took a step back, health color coming into his cheeks as he scrambled for the right words.

"You know me?!" From beside him, Sasori glared at Sakura. It shouldn't have, but it almost physically hurt her to be looked at by him in such a way.

"Idiot," he hissed under his breath, referring to Deidara and not Sakura. "She's the kid that came in with Kisame of the Mist… the one that threw the rock at us."

"I would like to think of it as more of a boulder and less of a rock," Sakura interjected, raising a single eyebrow. Her tone was even, but her heart was rioting in her chest. "A rock would have been far less trouble to throw."

"Granted." Sasori huffed, looking unamused. 

"Ah, Leader-sama told us to be aware of you. Yeah… she said you were a new member, along with that Kisame guy, but that you weren't going to go on missions with us for side jobs, or something like that."

Sakura briefly considered telling them that she was busy with her own private side job of healing Nagato, but it was something he and Konan both asked her to keep from the other members, as they did not know he was so sick or in anything less than god-like condition. Nagato had a god complex if ever Sakura saw one, and that was funny considering how he was dying.

"I am contracted labor of sorts," Sakura finally said, keeping her eyes down. “In addition to combative aid, I am also a medic. Should you need treatment, I am not opposed to extending my services in the event that you seek me out."

"A medic would have been handy to have on any number of our past missions," Sasori intoned. His glare was still on her.

Sakura swallowed and lifted her eyes, finding his to be already on her. They were the same, sweet colored carmel eyes she remembered them being from the last Kingdom, and it was almost enough to break her. "You do not like me, Sasori-san. Have I offended you in some way?"

The redhead blinked and the glare eased up, but didn't disappear. She could tell there was still a layer of displeasure there, she could feel it if nothing else.

"You have done nothing," Sasori lamely replied. Deidara rolled his eyes from beside his partner.

"Don't bother with him," the blond chimed in. "Sasori has a stick up his ass and is like this with everyone pretty much."

"Deidara," Sasori grounded out. It was a warning, but the taller blond didn't heed it. Deidara grinned, his outlook jovial. 

"Nah, Sakura-chan, you should have lunch with us. If Sasori gets moody and leaves in the middle, you can just say it's a date! What do you say, un, my treat?"

"What does that have to do with killing the tailed beasts?" Sasori asked, his voice heavy. "That's the only reason she's here. Your companionship is not necessary." Before either could protest, the red head stormed off, brushing past her. Their shoulders almost collided, but he pulled up at the last moment, avoiding the connection Sakura was sure would have hurt more than a simple bruise.

Beyond her control she felt something in her throat tighten and knot. 'Where is Sai? I need to see Sai.' The image of his ashen face filled her with shame. No, she couldn't ask any more from him.

"It seems," She whispered, not trusting her voice to remain intact, "That I would be most unpleasant company for your companion. Forgive my rudeness if I have offended your organization in any way. While it is true I came here with the sole purpose of killing the tailed beasts, I never had any intention of creating discord among your ranks." Deidara made a frustrated sound and rubbed the back of his neck.

"No! Don't, don't apologize for him. It's not you, really it's not. Sasori is just an ass, he's the only one who thinks like that. I don't think like that. I want to hang out with you and get to know you better, um, if that's alright with you, un. The blue guy won't get… jealous will he?"

"Kisame and I are not promised, nor does he see me that way." Sakura almost smiled in memory of the awkward, 'I'm not looking for a relationship' talk they had, weeks back at the beginning of their journey. Kisame and Sakura were close companions, but they were not romantically compatible and that was fine, since he was like… twice her age. "Don't try to hurt me, and he should be okay with you."

"I don't want to hurt you, I just want to get to know you. Um, I've asked to take lunch on one of the verandas. I'll lead you there." Deidara gestured and Sakura followed.

The place he led her to was beautifully secluded and overlooking the lake on three out of four sides. A narrow, covered bridge connected it to the main floor plan of the house, but aside from that, it stood apart. The table was low and surrounded by cushions meant for reclining. Deidara sat down eagerly enough and patted the cushions beside him, waiting for Sakura to join him with eager smiles.

"Have you been with this organization long?" Sakura asked, pouring for herself a cup of sake. Deidara picked up his own smooth saucer and Sakura filled it for him.

“No, only a year. I joined just after they took down the one tailed beast. Back then, there was a whole army and it was a mess. Leader-sama and Pein-sama realized that instead of an army, they needed men who could fight like an army. That's why they started looking for people like me and Sasori. We can both take down dozens of men without breaking a sweat. It's ‘cause of our chakra, un."

"The change in tactics seems to have gone well for you. There now remains only two tailed beasts to pose a threat to the world. Will you deal with them the same way?" Deidara shrugged.

"I guess so. I'm not one much for planning, but Itachi is good with that stuff. He told me about how you fought together to defeat the six tailed slug. I want to hear about the three tailed crab though. What happened there, un?"

Over food, Sakura shared her story of the three tailed crab as well as her own version of what happened with the six tailed slug, plus her training with Tsunade. It was late before she even mentioned the Son Goku, and Deidara had drunk enough sake to make him loose.

A pair of maids came to clear away the dishes, and Sakura left Deidara to the foot men who said they were instructed to carry the 'young master' back to his room. On the way back, she noticed Hidan sulking in a window, his back to the outside world. He looked up when he noticed her pause.

"What?" His scowl was half hearted.

"Shouldn't I be asking that?" Sakura hummed, approaching him with caution. "You look like you ate something bad." Hidan rubbed the back of his neck, looking away. 

"I heard you talking to the- to Deidara."

"Oh." She waited for him to say more. When he didn't she started to turn, preparing to leave.

"You asked Pein if he remembered you. Why?" Sakura was a bit stunned, and turned quickly back to find Hidan watching her.

"Why would that matter to you? It was nothing and he said so himself. I was mistaken."

"I've had a dream about you." He almost looked embarrassed, but he kept talking. "You seemed so familiar when we first met, I couldn't control myself and I tried showing off like a damn fool, but last night I had a dream about you fighting with me and we were using only knives, and when we were done you laughed and helped me up like we were friends. I don't know what that has to do with anything, but I liked it… the dream."

Sakura's heart hurt, and her head was a thundercloud of thoughts rumbling and roaring as they fell over themselves. Hidan remembered her. He was talking about their time back in the Kingdom of Man when she fought him with knives and taught him how to use his whole body when he swung. Those were real memories she had of him and he was having them too, only as dreams.

"I've had dreams like those before," Sakura confessed, trying to sound calm. "I seem to know people before I even meet them."

"Was I in any of your dreams?"

"Some." He seemed lighter at the confession.

"Who else?"

"Pein and Konan and Itachi and his cousin, who's not alive anymore. There was also Sasori and Deidara and… other people. We played in a gang not unlike this one. It's foolish, isn't it? A silly dream makes me think I know you."

"But they're not just dreams. They're something more, aren't they? If I had to guess, I would say…past lives."

"In a way." Sakura shrugged. Hidan was quiet for a moment before exhaling.

"You should ask Itachi about the first time he dreamt of you, cause I'm sure he did, Pein too. If you dreamed of other guys, maybe they have had dreams too." There was a pause. "Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"No, it's nothing, I just wanted to try calling your name. Uh, let me know if you need anything, and don't be weird around me. It's just a dream, and I'm not going to make lewd comments about you anymore, so feel safe around me, okay."

Sakura just nodded before he hopped down off the window ledge and started off in the opposite direction.

Itachi wasn't difficult to find once he returned from his mission. He always lingered close, and she had a feeling if she called his name, wherever he was, he would come running. Before he could greet her or say anything, she was opening her mouth, asking about the dream.

"You've dreamed of me, haven't you? Of me in another time and another place. You have, haven't you?"

His face answered for her. There was pain in his expression too. She knew he had dreamed of that night in the dance hall when his eyes went straight to her stomach, to the place Orochimaru stabbed her.

She wasn't wearing a kimono today, so before he could pretend he hadn't looked, Sakura undid the sash around her hatori and as the folds fell away she lifted the bottom part of her black long sleeve. She heard his sharp intake of breath when he saw the faded scar that was nowhere near as defined as it had been a kingdom ago. Embarrassed, she dropped her shirt before he could see too much.

"It wasn't a dream." His voice was a breath.

"No, it was," Sakura corrected. "That just happened in a past life of sorts, not  _ this _ life.

"You were hurt because of me. That's why you shrank from me. You… hate me."

Sakura's mind went back to the dance hall to the party dress, to the heels and the knife fight and Snake Eyes and his severed hand. She had paid dearly for that severed hand, just like he had paid dearly for Sasori's stolen life. Did that mean she hated Itachi? Maybe at one point she did, but not anymore. She didn't have the anger to hate him anymore.

"It was a dream, Itachi. It's all in the past, and I've since… forgiven you for it. Is that why you bowed to me when I left with Kisame?" He nodded, not meeting her eyes.

"I know my actions are unforgivable, though their exact nature are unknown to me. Whatever my transgression may have been, I humbly apologize and seek a means to make amends."

Sakura thought of Sai's words. _ "Then you need to make them remember, one way or another. I've never heard of it being done before, but no one's ever tried before. If it's you, I think you could do it, Sakura. Work with them, fight alongside them, remind them who you are and they will see you again _ ."

Had her desire made this happen? She had wanted so desperately to be remembered, for her time with them to mean something. What Sai said made sense.

Sakura looked up at Itachi and saw him for all his differences. His eyes were younger, less aged by hate, even though Sakura was sure he had seen more blood and horror in this kingdom. Physically he appeared to be the same age, but this Itachi appeared to have less character. He was so stiff and polite and uniform. Itachi from the Kingdom of Man had a maturity akin to the weary parent of a gaggle of children. Funny how circumstances changed him.

"Will you listen to a story about our past lives?" she asked, nodding to another hallway that led out to the veranda on the lake.

It was a silly question, because Itachi would have followed her anywhere with that beaten puppy dog look in his eyes. Sakura ate with him and told him stories of her adventures in the Kingdom of Man. She thought about skipping around her romance with Sasori, but for some reason she included it, refusing to look away when she spoke of how he held her, whispered to her, and died under her.

Hidan came to join them, and listened to the stories as well. He said he wanted to get Deidara and Sasori to come over as well, but they all agreed that only those who admitted to having dreams should be privy to the information. Sakura tried asking Pein subtly about any weird dreams he might be having and got a cold shoulder. Konan was not as rude, but there was a layer of frost there whenever they communicated.

Kisame got mildly jealous about all her lunch sessions out with the boys, especially once he found out Hidan was one of the few she chose to entertain with her stories. He didn't believe the idea of any of them having past lives, but liked listening to her stories anyway.

It was odd how it all turned out. Before, Sakura had been distant from Itachi and Hidan most of all in the Morning Rovers, but in this world, this Kingdom, they were her closest allies. Sasori and Pein, who were never shy about desiring her attention, were now colder towards her than any of the others.

Eventually a team was dispatched to remove the eight tailed bull from the world, and Sakura had to hang back and wait for their return with Nagato, prepared to heal the injured and tend to the wounded. The only other one who stayed behind was Pein, but he kept his distance and never approached her. Only when she moved to heal Nagato's lungs did he step out of the shadows and make his presence known.

Sakura was finishing up a new section of Nagato's lungs when Konan entered the room, wet with rain and bleeding from one cheek. She looked ashen and ready to collapse when Pein rushed to her side. Sakura stood up to follow as he carried her tenderly to a table and laid her out. Sakura assessed the cut on her face and found trace amounts of poison. The extraction process was quick, only because so much of it was already absorbed and beyond removal.

"I have to set up a quick blood transfusion to counteract the poison already in your body. Was anyone else infected like this?" Sakura paused, waiting for Konan to answer. When the blue haired woman shook her head Sakura set about preparing the blood transfusion, confident that she wouldn't be needed for anything as taxing. She could feel the limits of her chakra and knew she would have to sleep soon.

She didn't mean to, but she caught sight of Konan reaching for Pein. He offered her his hand and she grasped it tight, squeezing it for strength. The smile on her face when she had that contact… oh. Sakura didn't dare look up at Pein's face, afraid of the affection she'd find in his eyes as he watched his partner. Oh, so that's how it was.

Sakura felt a pinch in her heart and fought back the chuckle. Of course things were going to be different this time around. She didn't even like Pein that much, so it didn't make any sense for her to feel…  _ jealous _ of their bond. The idea of it made Sakura sick. Was she the daycare bully that hogged all the toys for herself and never shared with the other kids? Was that who she was?

"That should be enough," Sakura said, avoiding eye contact as she pulled the needle from her arm and watched the last of her blood drip down the tube. She ended early and knew it, but they wouldn't. "You'll need to rest now. Too much was already absorbed, and your condition only aggravated the symptoms. Sleep for now. It should be a few days before you use your chakra again."

"She will do that," Pein answered for Konan. The sound of his voice made Sakura want to laugh and cry.

"If you'll excuse me then." Sakura stood, bowed slightly, and turned to leave.

In the hallway, the last person she wanted to see at the moment blocked her path. In her hurry to get away from the confusing scene, Sakura nearly ran him over, and the irritation flashed in his eyes.

"S-sorry," she confessed, backing up to get out of his way.

Sasori just glared at her, drawing his cloak tighter before turning to continue where he was going. Sakura saw his back and it was more than she could take.

"You don't have to be so much of an ass, Sasori!" He stopped at the sound of her voice, but didn't turn around. "I said I was sorry, okay. I don't know what more I can do with you to clear whatever ruined idea you have of me. You think I'm a terrible person, don't you?"

"You have no grounds for such an accusation."

She missed the way he wanted her. She missed the way he watched her and smiled when he caught her eye. She missed the way they touched and talked. She even missed the way he would drive her around town in his car. Simple things, but they meant so much to her.

"Bullshit, I'm not the only one who's noticed. Everyone else can see it too, so why not just be honest, save us the time of arguing over it, and tell me what it is that makes you treat me like an ass." Sakura’s anger seeped into her words.

"There  _ is _ no such reason." He turned his head back enough that she could see his eyelashes, but not his eyes. They were lowered and just as long as she remembered them being. "You simply fill me with an unpleasant feeling whenever present. I do not like you, and there is no reason for it, I just don't. Do not bother me with this again, girl."

_ Blood, there was so much blood, and Sasori wasn't standing anymore. _

_ He wasn't standing anymore. _

_ He was down, in the grass, on his side, leaking red into the soil. _

Sakura struggled to breath out, remembering it all too well in too much clarity. It was all in the past, but it was happening again in her head and she couldn't look away, she couldn't forget how she felt, and she couldn't stop the images from coming.

_ "Sakura." _

_ She fell silent and became terribly attentive to his face as he tried to find her with his eyes. She knew the moment he did because the corner of his lips turned up. "Kiss me. _ "

She was stupid, but now she was alone in the hallway with red eyes that refused to cry.

Her body moved on it's own, and she was a passenger along for the ride. She watched her body move, walk to the map room. Her body bent over the table with the markers that looked like miniature beasts. There were three, one for the bull, one for the beetle, and one for the fox. Underneath the table were seals written on white sheets of paper. Transportation seals.

Sakura watched as her body drew one and channeled chakra into it. She was low on chakra, weak from blood loss, and emotionally unstable, so it didn't make sense for her to be doing what she was doing, but she couldn't stop it. There was white light and then smoke. When that blew away she was standing in front of a large cave that was more trench than cave, with all the cracks that ran up to the surface.

Sakura heard humming.

Someone behind her grasped their sword belt.

"A visitor, at this hour? I would have never expected one to come to me so weak and wounded."

Sakura turned numbly to face the man who hummed like a nest of bees. The name was on her lips and rolling off before she knew she was even speaking.

"Shino."

The boy behind the black glasses didn't grin, but there was something pleased in the way his straight lips nearly quirked. He nodded his head and grabbed for his sword, drawing it out slowly. It came out with a scrapping hiss that ended in a breath of relief when it was free. Shino, a name for the sound a sword makes when it is drawn. Shinnnnnnnn-oh. Yes, this was where he belonged. This was where he was from.

"What are you doing here, little girl? Come to kill me?"

Her body didn't answer, it just moved.

She didn't have limits, chakra or physical to consider. She didn't need companions, she could do it all on her own without having to make friends and form stupid bonds that weren't even real.

"It was real to me!" she cried out loud, confusing her opponent as she parried a blow and turned to meet another.

He was wearing armor, so a lot of her hits were countered when he moved his shoulder or arm out to catch her blade, hold it, and swing with his own. Sakura always managed to make it out, but the second time she stumbled free, she knew she wouldn't get lucky a third time.

Her body became encased with the iron scales and plates of an antique Edo period Japanese samurai. When he attacked again, she caught his blade with her forehead, and the metal protector she wore there fell away. She dreamed up a full sized helmet complete with the mask of an Oni to cover everything below her eyes.

"Impressive. I've never seen such a skill set." Shino grunted in satisfaction.

Blood was coming down her face and she blinked it away, finding her lashes heavy with it. He took that opening, and her sword was useless. She caught his blade with her hands, and the piecing reminded her how a saint bled.

They fought together some more, and it became apparent that Sakura was not equipped to take on Shino in her current state. She was failing and fading fast, and he didn't even look like he broke a sweat. There was blood on her body too, from a wound somewhere she didn't remember receiving.

"Where will you hide now?"

She saw his blade go up.

There was onyx and Obelisk and darkness and the blue, blue eyes of a too clever fox. She felt drowned, seeing everything through a haze as another figure stepped in. A figure with black hair and red eyes. Why did she think they had been blue? She was shoved back, shoved down, and the onyx was eating her up. Back through the kingdom to the gate, bleeding and broken, she fell.


	8. KOM 5

It was odd, going from one kingdom to its gate and then back to a kingdom.

Thankfully, when she woke up in the real world, the scars and wounds were far less than what they would have been. For whatever reason, her time in the Monarch Woods had helped speed up the recovery time. Only a thin line that was easy enough to hide with her hair and some marks on her palms remained visible. What was on her torso was easy to cover up.

Still, it felt like Karin noticed, so Sakura went only to school and lied about all the homework she needed to get done. She stayed home, did her puny homework assignments, watched Steven Universe on Cartoon Network, and drifted off to sleep again.

* * *

When she walked back into the Kingdom of Beasts, it was right outside Shino's cave. High above the cave, on an outcropping of rocks, lounged a black fox. It opened one eye to observe her before yawning. There was no sign of Shino.

"You're the nine tailed fox," she said, feeling no doubt in her words. "What happened to Shino?"

"He was going to kill you and you care what happens to him, do you?" The voice didn't come directly from the fox, but Sakura knew its place of origin was the creature in front of her. The fox yawned before saying anything more. "He was tasty enough for a host, but all those bugs nearly made me sick. You should thank me. I ate him for you." Sakura felt her lip curl. Her side was bruised, but she was alert this time around and ready for a fight. 

"Why would you do that? You're a beast as well."

The fox sat up, yawned again, and when it closed it's mouth to look at her, its smile was human. A moment later, the fox was a man dressed all in black with cunning blue eyes that flashed with a shadow of red. Sakura couldn't help but gasp.

"Naruto!" The dark haired Naruto inclined his head and smiled mischievously. The scar whiskers on his cheeks stood out prominently with the action. Over his black robes, he wore a shawl of gray fur. 

"Close, but no. Naruto could be called my twin, but he is not me. I am Menma.  _ Uzumaki _ Menma, remember it." Sakura straightened and reached to hold her katana sheath even. She could draw it in a moment if she needed to.

"You're still a beast. You are my enemy."

"Do I have to be?" he asked, smiling widely. "I may not be a good guy, but I could be what you need, because let's be honest, if it weren't for me, you would have died back there with bug-for-brains. Why would I do a nice thing like that?"

"You want something?" she guessed.

Naruto's double shrugged. Sakura still had a hard time seeing him as the character Menma, but it was apparent this character was nowhere near as sweet or kind as Naruto had been. Menma watched her with clear eyes that saw everything. It made her feel like there was something underneath her skin.

"I've heard it through the grapevine that you're not to be taken lightly. You've killed my kind before, not like me, but still… that's impressive. What has me interested though, is how you've managed to manipulate the white snake's scum into doing your dirty work for you." He watched as shock came over her features and laughed. "Ah yes, it seems you were not oblivious. The poor scab is in for a century of hurt now. Not only did he manipulate the Akatsuki into fighting for you, Kimimaro-kun took care of the dream killer for you. Have you noticed?"

Behind her there was sound, and when Sakura turned she saw Kimamaro impaled on a pike. Barely conscious, he struggled to breath. Sakura screamed at the sight and rushed to his side. Menma barked something and black fire-fox fire- cut her off from Kimimaro's body. She turned, fury in her hands.

"Calm down, he's not dead, and it's not like he could die any more than he's already died. Once he is extinguished, he will start over for a different dreamer in a different world, and really, you should be more worried about yourself… and this guy." Sakura's voice was shrill when she saw the shape hanging from Menma's hand.

"Sai!"

"Oh please," Menma laughed. "Not this one too. He came to me, he was the one who asked for this. He wanted power, the kind I could offer him."

In Menma's opposite hand, a new flame sprang up, flickering black and purple and red at times. Sakura felt sick as the flames crystalized.  _ Obsidian, onyx, evil, curses _ . Sakura's eyes hurt to look at it. That was what she needed to advance to the next world. That was the Obelisk.

Sai screamed something ungodly as Menma thrust those flame crystals into his body. Sakura's voice was too high pitched to hear as she watched Sai's body convulse and crystallize at the entry point. Those shards seeped into his body like ink. Under his skin, white alabaster coloring turned pitch with the curse. Sai's eyes went white, too wide, and then the blackness seeped into them. Menma huffed and tossed Sai's limp body to the side and wiped his hand.

"There's your precious exit portal." Menma shrugged. "Yeah, I used to have it, once I killed Shino, it came to me because that's how the story is supposed to go, you kill me, progress on to the next world, maybe you die, maybe you don't. But like this, you don't  _ have _ to kill me to go on to the next kingdom. That guy over there, he was dying anyway so why not make use of him? Sacrificial lamb for dinner. In fact, I can do it for you." Sakura felt dizzy. She fell to one knee, steadying herself. 

"What did you do?" Her voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere else. " _ Sai _ ." Menma crouched down behind her and she felt his hands on her shoulders. 

"He said he believed you could do it, that you had the potential to go the whole way. I've seen a few worth watching, and I don't think he was wrong when he chose to side with you." Menma nuzzled the side of her face, much like how a cat or dog would when desiring pets. Something occurred to Sakura then. 

"How could you do this… you're an actor." He hummed. 

"Yes, but you brought awareness to the Kingdom of Beasts, you clever vixen. You  _ willed _ it." At the look on her face he laughed loud. "Oh, you thought it was just your friends who started to wake up? No, for every good there is evil. It wouldn't be fair if everything was perfect for you, right? Tis nature." He reached out and licked the side of her face and chuckled darkly. "You still taste like wolf."

"You want to come with me, like Sai did," Sakura finally said, feeling detached from the words. When she turned to see his face, Menma was grinning. His fangs stood out, gleaming brilliantly. Feeling the pain of it, she looked to Kimimaro. "But why would you hurt them?"

"Because he was going to hurt you. Also, I didn't like the idea of you forgiving him and taking him with you once the other one expired into ash and smoke. No, I'm much more suited to following you into the void, into the unknown. I was always stronger."

Across the ground from where he was thrown Sai stirred. Sakura gasped, getting up to run to him, but was pulled back down by Menma. She cried out in protest.

"No!" Menma hissed, pulling her back to his chest and holding her hostage. His face was right next to hers, his lips on her ears. "Not unless you're ready to kill him."

As if on cue, Sai reared up and roared with something that wasn't human from within his chest. His eyes were still spilled ink, two glass beads in his eye sockets. Demon eyes. The edges of his body began to burn. When he exhaled, the cavity of his chest glowed red, like a dying ember. His human shape began to fade in and out, curling out and away into smoke. A curl of smoke pulled away from his arm, and where it touched the cave surface it became a crawling snake that hissed in warning. A host of spiders grew out of his feet, crawling towards her.

"Not so fast," Menma laughed. His own fox fire reached out and sent the spiders back, destroying the ones that were too slow to escape in time. Sakura felt him kiss her neck and he hummed in pleasure. "I can't let him cut this short. I want to enjoy our time together."

"Sai, snap out of it!" Sakura screamed, struggling against the hold Menma had on her. "SAI!"

Who was she supposed to call to when the person she always called to for help was the one that needed help?

Looking up she saw Menma sharpen a curl of black flame into a bolt to throw. He grinned rakishly and pulled back, ready to throw it straight at Sai. Even if Sai was now trying to kill her, Sakura couldn't resign herself to it.

"No!" She screamed and shoved Menma off her just as he reached back to throw the black bolt. He growled, recovering quickly.

Sakura took one step towards Sai, armoring herself from foot to knee, another step, knee to belt, another step, belt to neck, another step, arms and hands. She reached for Sai but before she could touch him, there was fire between her and him. Not Sai's, but Menma's.

"Are you crazy?! He's going to try and kill you now!" Menma scowled, spitting something out of the corner of his mouth before making symbols with his hands. His fingers were a blur, and then the ground became uneven. A dragon of water, a dragon of fire, a dragon of earth all rose up out from underneath her and writhed before heading towards Sai. Sakura screamed again, but Menma was behind her, pulling her from underneath her chest backwards. She struggled, but he was unforgiving. 

"Not today, little kit," he whispered in her ear before the ground rushed out from underneath them. Suddenly they were above it all, on the back of a large black fox. Menma laughed and pinned her down, grabbing fistfuls of fur before kicking the fox like a horse to make it run. Over his shoulder, Sakura counted nine black, swishing fox tails.

A moment later, even though they were so far away, Sakura could still hear it when Kimimaro cried out for the last time. Something in her heart shattered, knowing that the battle between Sai and Kimimaro was finally over. 

"You left them there on purpose," she breathed. "Sai  _ killed _ him."

"As well as he could. Kimimaro will come back, he's not truly dead, or rather, he's not truly alive." He chuckled darkly. "But that shouldn't matter to you now. You have bigger things to worry about. You are coming with me."

She was stupid.

Sasori didn't want to talk to her, big deal. No one remembered her, big deal. The dreams were hard, but so was life. She was selfish, she was stupid too. All this time, all this time she had been going about this all wrong. Wrong motivation, wrong outcome.

_ "If it's you, I think you could do it Sakura." _

"No." Menma didn't seem concerned, but he did smile regretfully down at her.

"Don't worry, you'll like it with me. I'll help you more than any of the others ever could. We can remake the world in our image. You'll have anything you wish. They'll all remember and want you, but you will no longer be a girl, but a goddess who travels between worlds. Isn't that what you want?"

What was she doing here?

"No." Her voice was stone. Her voice was steel.

"Yes it is," he laughed.

Menma reached for her again, but she was faster, drawing her katana and rolling off the back of his fox. She heard him yell and she curled in on herself. She hit the trees first, and though it hurt like hell, it saved her from falling to her death. Menma's fox skid to a halt and turned around, to come back for her, but she knew better than to let him have his way. No more.

She drew the symbol into the dirt and then pushed her chakra into it. Menma was close but not close enough to stop her from transporting in a cloud of smoke.

"NO!"

* * *

_ "I look at you, Masha, and it is like drinking cold water.   
I look at you and it is like my throat being cut." _

_ — Catherynne M. Valente, from Deathless _

* * *

What was once simple became terribly complex: Kill all the tailed beasts, go on to the next level.

But now Menma wasn't a part of the problem, Sai was. The Obelisk, like it existed inside of Nagato when she healed him, this time it existed inside of Sai the Beast Spawn, as he was being called.

The Akatsuki was still focused on finding and killing the nine tailed fox, but Sakura's heart wasn't in it anymore. She healed, she helped, she even went on smaller side missions, but she never felt like a part of any of it. She was in her body for a ride.

Sai hunted her almost as religiously as Menma. Not even the Monarch Woods was safe to escape to, because while Menma couldn't follow her into the gate, Sai could.

Slowly, winter faded, outside in the real world and inside the dream as well. She had spent months here. From October to January to March. The white snow faded and the buds on the trees came out.

In school, Sakura struggled through classes she should have been able to pass without any effort. Assignments came in late, papers never got finished, and more than just a handful of classes were missed on her part. Having to struggle to find scholarships became a much more suspenseful hunt once her perfect A grade started to drop in a couple of classes.

When she met with an advisor, there was no way she could make the numbers work for the next semester.

'Do you still want to sign up for classes while on this loan?'

Sakura's head felt numb when she shook it. She told the advisor she needed time off to work, and the woman behind the computer seemed to understand, but Sakura doubted it. There was a plan she had followed ever since high school. She was supposed to be done in another year and a half. Now, she didn't know if she  _ could _ finish. Would the curse allow her that? Now she was beginning to understand why it was a curse.

In addition to how largely screwed up her regular life was, there were other things in the dream world that gave her reason for concern. The sky looked bruised in places. Sai once said something about how it was dangerous to stay too long in one kingdom or gate and Sakura wondered if maybe she was approaching the limits of this world with only a few months spent in it. Nothing had happened so far, and really it wasn't a big deal, but Sakura felt uneasy whenever she looked up and saw purple and green smeared behind white clouds like an angry bruise.

"Ready to leave with me?" Menma asked, sitting on a rock in his fox form while Sakura knelt to fill her water skin. If she ignored him he usually left, if for no other reason than to avoid the men she traveled with. They would still kill him if they found him, even if Sakura wouldn't.

"Sakura, are you finished?" Itachi asked, coming out of the trees.

When she looked up to the stones there was no fox.

Itachi didn't seem to notice her concern, but accepted one of the water skins she had filled. There was little Itachi didn't notice, but he was respectful of her feelings to the degree that he didn't call her out on anxieties. He nodded to the other skins in her hands. "Who are the others two for?"

"Deidara and Sasori."

There was a stiffness in Itachi's eyes when he nodded. Normally Sakura ignored it, but seeing Menma again had made her agitated. Talking with her consoler had made her agitated. Karin getting pissed off had made her agitated. The blood under her nails made her agitated.

"What's with that face?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at Itachi. She used a tone he knew not to argue with. He could try and disengage, but that would earn him the cold shoulder for a while, and Itachi hated the cold shoulder.

"You treat him so softly and yet he has been nothing but harsh with you. Why do you endure it?"

She understood the other thing he didn't say. ' _ Why do you still care for him when he doesn't love you _ ?'

"He doesn't remember me, there's nothing to be done. Forcing him to remember will only incur other…negative side effects. It's better this way. I don't need the distraction." She glanced backwards looking for the shadow of a fox that had been stalking her for weeks and found it between the branches high in a tree.

The breath Itachi took in before speaking was deafening, only because Sakura was so sensitive to it by now. She cold be beside a waterfall and hear the shift of his eyes when he searched for her. Something about the way he existed made her hyper sensitive to his existence. "If you asked I would do that for you."

"I know."

Itachi shook his head, not willing to push the sore subject. "How are your hands. They were all scratched from the fight earlier and you can't heal yourself yet."

"The water helped," she easilly answered, letting him fall into step beside her. Halfway to camp they found Kisame cleaning the scales on his sword. He looked at the water skins and stuck his tongue out at Sakura. "None for me?"

"Your skin is huge, do it yourself." Even as she said the words Kisame was handing his oversized water skin over to Itachi who held out his hand, offering his services wordlessly. Sakura huffed, biting her cheek. "Itachi! He's being lazy."

"I don't mind," Itachi answered over his shoulder, heading off towards the waters again. When Kisame cackled Sakura kicked him with the side of her foot.

Sakura turned to find Sasori and Deidara finishing the set up of their tents. A hole had already been dug for the fire pit and Deidara had pulled over some fallen logs to sit on while around the fire. The whole site looked very built up. "Are we staying here that long?" Sakura asked, handing the water over to the blond first. Sasori was still inside one of the tents.

"Thanks, Sakura chan. Yeah, there were signs of several recent fights in the area. I think the Spawn and the Fox are both close. We'll call Hidan and Kakuzu to join us in the morning." Deidara paused to take a drink and smiled when he pulled away. "The best!"

Sasori emerged from his tent and Sakura took a few hesitant steps over to were he stood with his water in her hand. He took it, their fingers brushing, but he didn't say a word. His hands were cold, he was always cold, but when they touched Sakura thought of smooth wood and not flesh. Still, he was beautiful.

"Let me know if you need more," she said, looking at Sasori.

Deidara looked up and Sakura glanced backwards in time to meet his eyes. She smiled, and he smiled back. Neither was convinced though. By now it was well known that Sakura had a 'thing' for the redhead of their group, but aside from Hidan and Itachi, no one could understand why. Sasori was the least likable suitor after Hidan, but even Hidan was soft for Sakura and kind in her presence. Sasori seemed to be the only one who seemed to dislike Sakura out of the entire organization. Kakuza and Konan were indifferent to her existence, but only Sasori was cruel to her.

"When I need water I will retrieve it myself," Sasori lazily replied, turning away and heading over to the fire.

"I'll go get dinner then." She should have taken Kisame, or let Itachi know to join her, but what she really wanted was some time alone, some solitude for proper thinking.

Before she was out of the rang of hearing, but behind enough foliage to be hidden, she heard Deidara throw something down in anger. It clattered loudly. Sasori's voice was bored as he commented on the display.

"Do no be childish with you anger. Find something constructive to do."

"You did it again, you ass!"

Sasori's tone stayed flat. "I do not know to what you are implying."

"Sakura. She's been nothing but sweet as an angel and you treat her with contempt every chance you get. I don't know why Itachi lets you live, but he's not the only one who wants to murder you every time you're mean to her."

"You're saying useless things again."

"You know some of us would kill to get that kind of attention right? It doesn't make sense why she has to watch you, why she has to worry about you, to ask about you, and think only about you. Maybe I could stand it if she liked someone reasonable like Itachi or even Kisame, as ugly as he is. At least they care for her, not like you. Damn, it's wasted affection."

"This conversation is a waste of oxygen. I'm under no obligation to return her misguided affections, should they even exist as you claim they do. Unnecessary as it may be, in my defense, that woman has always filled me with a sense of dread."

"Maybe that's because you're a puppet and don't have balls anymore."

"Reproductive organs are irrelevant."

"Your face is irrelevant. I'm not a eunice so I know a good thing when I see it, and you're an ass, Sasori."

"As you has said before."

Deidara threw something again and stormed off. Sakura didn't move to turn around and check, but knew well enough that is likely what happened. This wasn't the first conversation between the two she accidentally overheard. And just like all the others, this one hurt just as bad.

She needed to get away, so Sakura walked. Walking was good, it let her thing and gave her time to she was outside the range of the campsite she remembered why solitude was something she hadn't experienced in weeks.

"Chicken okay?" the fox asked, dropping a few dead birds at her feet. She moved around the birds, ignoring them but stopped when he materialized as a human in front of her, dark whiskers and all. "Not to your taste?"

"I don't eat, you know that." The moment the words left her mouth she regretted them. Menma's eyes twinkled with mischief, knowing he had her attention now. Normally she ignored him, but sometimes that got too exhausting. She cursed out loud, turning her face away.

"You thought about my offer recently? We could kill him together."

If the thought of killing Sai didn't make her want to vomit, the idea of doing it with Menma did. As kind and thoughtful as Naruto was, Menma was just as devious and selfish. A part of her wanted to strike him down just to be rid of his presence. Menma noticed her displeasure and chuckled. It was as if he enjoyed her being in the pain his presence brought.

"Laugh if you want, but you're not going anywhere like this. I kind of hate you."

Menma shrugged. "But I'm useful. In the next world the dangers will be that much more intense, and without the Sigh of Dejection to guide or protect you, you will be more vulnerable than ever before. You'll need me. You can't do it on your own." He coxed his head to the side. "Don't believe I can be useful, should I prove it to you?"

Sakura didn't know what he had in mind, but she knew it made her uncomfortable. Menma's ideas were always bad ideas. She drew her sword and slashed at the air between them. Manma drew back just enough to be missed by the halfhearted gesture. "Don't talk to me."

"I can just show you then." His head was still cocked and his grin was still infuriating. "You don't need to like me, you just need to  _ need _ me."

He was gone in a whirl of fox fire and ash.

The smoke left behind made her think of Sai. Because of her, he was now a single minded monster.

'I want Sai to be who he once was. I want him to heal, to be better.' Sakura looked down at her hands, the ones she used for healing and felt helpless. She couldn't even fix herself, how could she fix Sai?

And poor Kimimaro…she had failed him. Even if he turned his back on her, she gave up on him. Did she even try to reach out to him after that? What was he feeling?

Something Sai had said to her got stuck in her thoughts. ' _ If it's you, you can do it _ .' She had somehow been able to make Itachi and Hidan remember her from a past world. That wasn't supposed to be possible, but she had somehow managed it. Manifestation wasn't always allowed, but somehow she had summoned a gun out of tine when fighting the elephant wolf. She was more powerful than she gave herself credit. This was her dream, this was her world, and she was its master. If she wanted Sai back he  _ would _ come back to her. She would will it so.

Her knees became damp from the soil and grass that seeped into her pants where she knelt. Eyes squeezed shut, hands clasped in prayer, she remembered the power of her will. She saw it in her mind's eye. The monster Sai was becoming something else, something broken became whole, the animal, the beast became man. She would will it to be so, with everything at her disposal. She would  **remake** the world for this. She would, she would, she would. Eyes wet, knuckles bruised, she prayed harder.

She felt it.

The skies cried out, bruises growing. She was breaking down the dream world and rearranging the matter that made up dreams. Her will reached out like hands and suddenly there was thunder under her veins, making her bones shake. Then it was the rest of the world that shook.

Sakura looked up, falling onto her hands in an effort to keep herself steady. There was a spray of dirt and trees ripped up by their roots flying through the air. Massive trunks came crashing down to earth like angry giant steps.

A moment later Itachi and Kisame landed down on either side of her. "It's the fox," Kisame said.

"He's fighting something," Itachi added.

Something felt stuck in the back of her throat. "The spawn?" she asked, but in her head she said something else. ' _ Sai _ ?'

"Likely," Itachi said with a nod.

In the distance overhead she saw the large clay bird Deidara had crafted out of his chakra flying towards the fight sight. Sasori rode the bird behind Deidara. Itachi moved to follow them and Kisame heaved his sword over his shoulder, taking off first. Sakura stood, but watched numbly as the pair raced off ahead of her, disappearing between the trees before she could right herself. She still felt the thunder in her marrow, angry and echoing.

She drew her sword and the feel of a weighted blade in her hand helped ground her. Maybe there really was something angry in her body as a result of her trying to remake the dream in her image, but she wouldn't let that stop her. The others were all up ahead without her, doing God knows what. She needed to be with them.

One foot in front of the other, one step at a time, she began the walk that became a sprint that evolved into a run. Arms behind her, she cut into the wind, soaring over the earth until she emerged from the forest into a clearing made by destruction.

Kisame and Itachi were alternating between long and short range attacks as a swarm of ink animals came at them while Deidara and Sasori tried taking on Menma who toyed with the pair of them, having already crippled Deidara's bird and slashed through Sasori's shoulder.

'Two roads diverged in a yellow woods, one to a cunning trickster fox who fights my ex, and the other towards my fallen friend who I've been trying to make human again.'

Menma laughed and then, as a huge fox, reached out to crush Deidara underfoot. Sakura didn't understand why she could only watch as the blond who was her friend was reduced to a body of crushed bones for Sasori to step over. Alive or dead, made no difference to the redhead. 'Not my Sasori.'

Sakura charged for Menma, launching into a sword dance that didn't hide how much she wanted to exterminate the fox fiend. One of his tails knocked Sasori down and another swept over Sakura, causing her to duck. Menma was there waiting for her, on the ground. His smile was criminally wide.

"You didn't want the redhead, did you?" he asked coyly.

She shouldn't have, but she turned in tip to see Sasori pinned down with the mouth of the giant fox over his face, jaws open, ready to tear and crunch.

"No!" her voice was shrill and broken even as Menma reached out to hold her around the waist. A pair of fox tails descended around them like a curtain, blocking the rest of the world out. She heard the pain of Kisame but couldn't see if he was hurt or hit.

Hid fingers dug into her waist, demanding her attention. Menma's eyes were red like blood now. "I didn't mean to, but your Sigh of Dejection provoked me. I won't kill this one, since he means so much to you, but I want to ask for a promise from you. You'll promise me something, won't you?" The fox behind her growled.

"I'm not taking you with me, not after this, are you crazy?"

"Not even for him?"

A portion of the tail parted to show Sasori bent over on the ground, looking like his body had been snapped in several places. He was struggling on his hands to pull his body along, away from the snapping snout of the fox. Beyond him Deidara lay lifeless.

Sakura didn't answer, Her sword turned upwards inside Menma's body; a swift and decisive blow. When she turned to face him her eyes were burning. "That's for Deidara."

She didn't bother to watch the expressions on his face as they flickered through. When she pulled her sword free it was only to strike him down once more. Behind her the fox faded, the chakra that kept him sustained no longer in existence. With a hole through his heart and slash along his breath, Menma still choked on the last bit of breath left in him. It almost sounded like a laugh, so Sakura kept her sword ready.

He was looking at her as he died, blood falling down his throat as he pushed the words out. "Next time…, don't call me… Naruto."

The light left his eyes and she knew he was as gone as he could be. Maybe in another kingdom, in another world, they would meet again, but that was a worry best saved for later. Looking up, she saw Kisame holding one arm limp and blood soaked and Itachi bleeding from his eyes. There were smoke monsters everywhere and Itachi's long range attacks were useless.

"This will end today," she said to herself, hating how easy it had been to kill Menma. Sai, her precious Sai, dearest friend and companion would have to go. Blood dripping from her sword, she turned towards Sai and began the trek.

"Haruno."

She froze in place. Behind her she could hear Sasori gathering himself together, trying to stand. He sounded like a wooden doll, hollow and wooden. When she turned to look behind him, she saw exactly what she had lost his cloak and discarded much of the clothing that hindered him from moving. What was left of his body was built of wood. He was missing one leg and his right arm was split from wrist to elbow. Cracks ran through his body like a spiderweb on canvas. Where his heart should have been was a meaty canister lodged in his chest with veins sprayed out. That part was the only part that bled.

"What…are you?" she asked, sprinting over to him to help him sit up. He grunted at the touch, but didn't push her away. Sakura reached for the red canister on his chest and lightly brushed her fingers over it, glowing with healing light. Sasori hissed, color rising to his cheeks. It had been the only thing about his with warmth in it.

"That's your heart, isn't it?" She had never seen it before, partly because of clothing and also because the wooden cover that hid it from view now lay destroyed into two pieces beside his hand. It was apparent that the absence of this cover altered him in some way.

"I traded my body for this immortality. Please do not touch me there again. I feel…uncomfortable with this proximity."

Frowning, Sakura reached out and stroked his heart canister intentionally, dragging her fingertips up and down the edges. With both his arms damaged, he couldn't really stop her no matter how red it made his cheeks. He bit his lips and a hazy look overtook his eyes.

"This is the only part of you that's left capable of feeling, and you haven't felt anything in years, haven't you?" Sakura asked, watching his darting eyes for the answer he likely wouldn't admit to her. She wanted to tease him, to unsettle him and make him as uncomfortable as he made her, but she also wanted to kiss him, so she did. She took his lips with her own and memorized the shape of them. When she pulled away, Sasori looked breathless. It was enough to make her grin. "You actually liked that, didn't you?"

At a loss from his senses, Sasori leaned in to her, eyes half lidded and woozy with stars in them, but Sakura pulled away. When he whined it almost made her want to spoil him. She pushed his face away and kissed his heart before standing and backing away. He watched her, frightened.

" _ Sakura _ ." He never used to call her name before.

"Sorry, I have a friend I need to save."

Kisame and Itachi were wearied and broken as she ran to them. They had exhausted themselves with endless waves of smoke beasts, but Sakura wasn't going to fall to the same folly.

Fist first, she upturned the earth and cleared a path for her straight to the source of the creatures. Sai opened his mouth and tried to spawn another fox, but Sakura's sword cut upwards, straight through the smoke head growing out of his mouth. The creature exploded into ash that rained down between them.

She swung and he became smoke before her blade could connect. "Damn it Sai, quit it!" she screamed, cutting through a deer that seeped from his sleeves. Majestic antlers tangled into ash under her feet. "Stop and wake up, it's me!"

_ Bats _ . Sakura poured chakra into her blade and cut the air, watching as the shockwave rendered them flightless. She slashed again, but this time she followed the cut to get close. When Sai threw up reindeer to take the blows, Sakura was there waiting behind the curtain of falling ash. The only thing he could do was pull a saber of his own from the smoke and meet her blade with his.

Switching her sword over to her right hand, Sakura let her left palm glow with healing light before reaching under their hilts to touch Sai's chest. He convulsed violently at the touch and dropped his sword, falling back on himself with animalistic screams. Sakura sheathed her own sword before falling on him again, both palms glowing.

"Sai, Sai, come back to me. Listen to my voice, this isn't you."

Something began to separate from his body and the edges and boundaries of his person began to become more defined. He started to feel solid again as the black obelisk rose from his breast like the point of a sword. She was pulling at that black obsidian, knowing it was more than just her ticket to the next world. It was Sai's salvation.

"Sakura." She almost faltered when he called her name. It was tiring but it was the old Sai talking. "You…" his words trailed off.

"It's going to be fine, hold on. I'll save you. I'll take it out of you and-kuk!"

His hand, black and gloved, gripped her around the throat and cut her air supply off. She felt her lungs flutter like a butterfly's wings before Sai jerked hard and threw her to the ground, face first. She coughed and then inhaled deeply, sucking dust and smoke and dirt up into her breathing passages.

Palms braced against the dirt and grass she tried to push up and stand again but Sai's knee was there between her shoulder blades. She cried out at the biting pain, but couldn't push him off.

"What are you…?"

His hand reached out and grabbed at her hair, pulling on it and turning it around in his hand before yanking hard. Sakura's head followed and her throat arched, exposed and bare for his claw tipped hands to trace. "None of that," he hissed. His voice was thick with the emotion of abhorrence. "Deceiver. You will dream no more than this."

She felt the blade at the base of the back of her neck and spasmed, drawing a tanto blade out of thin air to dig out behind her. With his hand in her hair she couldn't properly reach enough to stop or hurt him. Sai was going to execute her.

"Why, Sai?" She could move her head just enough to see above her at the shadowed face of her friend. This wasn't right. His eyes, always black, were pits without end. Not Sai.

"In place of the dream killer, I must do the will of the great serpent."

He raised his blade and there was no time to mourn, no time to grieve, not time to regret. Sakura pulled hard and reached up with her tanto to slice through her hair where it knotted around his fingers. The blood from his cut fingers fell onto her face as she turned, free at last. One strike was all it would take, but Sai already had his blade up to break her draw. Sakura kicked and the earth became uneven. Sai roared and the shadows around him became a great mass. The shadows and smoke curled over Menma's dead body and a moment later he became the black fox.

Behind her Kisame cried out her name. He struggled with only one arm and behind him Itachi was blind and bleeding. Sasori was propped up against the trunk of a tree, crippled as well. It was just her.

"On your own you are nothing," the smoke fox cackled. "Not even enough for one salvation." The fox stood and found Deidara's dead body, stomping down on it for emphasis.

Before Sakura could feel the grief the fox reared up and sprang for her. She tried to jump back, but the shadow stretched on forever around her and the fox found her. Sakura threw her sword up, but a monster sized beast such as Sai's was too much for her own powers to block all on their own. 'This is not the end!'

The ground under her cracked and she sank into it, her hands stretched above her, straining under the weight. Sakura was buried in the earth, stomped into it, but somehow she wasn't up there was a blade of black smoke crossed with hers, providing support against the fox's assault.

"Sai?"

'Not quite,' a voice echoed in her ears. She felt warmth and knew it was him. 'What you knew as Sai is no more. The White Snake has corrupted my body. I am afraid I can be of no greater use to you than what I do now. There is no more time for explanation or goodbyes. You must kill him.'

"What about you, Sai?" Sakura asked, feeling her elbows burn as they wanted to bend under the weight above her. "What will happen to you? Where are you now?" She didn't want to sound frantic, but it was hard.

'The form you see now is all I can manage. This is as far as I go with you as the Sigh of Dejection, however a part of me will always be with the dreamer, same as Kimimaro.'

The ground under her feet cracked again as she sank deeper. Her arms burned. "God-you-you're saying goodbye, aren't you?"

'Perhaps, but today is not a day for you to worry about such. Today you must survive. Take all you have earned thus far and make your wrath feared, dreamer.’

"Sai-"

'Now!'

Sakura screamed and the world trembled. She was a supernova with teeth. The short curls of hair that were left after her sheering flared up around her like a rose colored halo as the chakra in her body surged out. She was using all of it, manifesting it into a weapon around her. It was enough to push the black fox off and send him tumbling. When Sakura emerged from the hole in the ground there were green flames of excess chakra burning out of her pores.

Sai's body righted the fox and prepared for another attack but Sakura was ready. Roaring, she blazed brighter and her chakra manifested once more in a new and terrifying form. Larger than the black fox who stood among the trees, Sakura now rode the head of a silver wolf with ten tails swaying behind him. It wasn't truly Hungry, but she felt the spirit of him as if it were.

Sai's face contorted in an unbridled rage that was so unlike him Sakura couldn't help but feel free to strike him down. That body wasn't Sai. She leveled her sword and Sai made one of smoke for himself.

"This ends here."

Sai roared, Sakura screamed, and with the momentum of their war cries the pair launched themselves at each other. Hungry tore at Sai's fox, ripping it to smoke shred while Sakura leapt from the head of her wolf to meet Sai with her sword. He blocked and they exchanged blows, but Sakura was burning and there was no way she was going to lose. She had never been so powerful before.

Hungry tore through the fox's throat and Sai lost his balance, giving Sakura the only opening she needed. There was no hesitation, only fury as she dropped her blade and severed Sai's head from his body. The Obelisk poured out and Sakura felt her chakra ebb away as a warmer light engulfed her.

Sai was in her ear, whispering one last time as the world turned over. 'I knew you could do it. You are the one who will ruin these awful kingdoms and swallow the sun. I believe in you, Sakura.'

* * *

**"The sky quivers, the earth quakes before me, for I am a magician, I possess magic."**

**Pyramid Texts, utterance 472 (§ 924)**

* * *

The Monarch Woods came to an end. The Kingdom of Beasts came to an end. All the actors with all their roles were swept up in the light as the curse reset.

Through it all, Sakura drifted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up, Kingdom of Monsters!

**Author's Note:**

> Vesperchan trivia, the Monarch Woods is like the first draft for another piece I wrote: RED KING so if you're enjoying the fantasy imperial Russia vibes, you might enjoy that story over on FF.net
> 
> Also, I'm seriously at such a loss at how to tag this fic. If you have suggestions I'm open to it. :)


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